Canada/US Border still shut...

JaxDad wrote:
I know a couple of border agents on both sides of the border

I asked about that very concept of multiple terms meaning the same thing being used in multiple questions. I was fascinated by the answer. It turns out tha style of questioning was developed by behavioural scientists.

Having asked the same question 1,000 or perhaps 10,000 times, one gets the feel of what a 'normal' answer is. Some answers to questions asked are so far from what is considered 'normal' answers, the hairs on the back of your neck will stand up, thus causing further inspection of the person.

The first reason is they use certain questions more to gauge our reactions to them than because they want a certain answer. Questions like “Do you have any guns, knives, hand grenades or bazookas?” Will illicit a laugh from honest innocent people because they take it as a joke. But a nervous criminal with a guilty conscience may react very differently.

The second reason though made me really wonder. I was told II would be surprised at how many people say “no” to guns and a subsequent search turns up a rifle or shotgun and the people say “you only asked about guns, not rifles”. By using every possible term a sharp lawyer can’t later say ‘my client just didn’t understand the question’.