Deceptive Communication (Floyd, 2017) 1 The Nature of Interpersonal Deception 2 The Diversity of Deceptive Acts 3 Communication Behaviors and Deception 4 Detecting Lies in Different Contexts

How Often Do You Lie? Behaviors that we think of as tact or polite involve some degree of deception. Do you pretend to be happy to see others when you are not? Do you invent plans to avoid time with others? Do you lie to avoid hurting others’ feelings? What other instances do you tell lies?

Nature Most people conceal the truth on a regular basis. Lying and deception have negative connotations. Deception is a communication process. Understanding deception helps you to become a better communicator.

Defining Deception- the knowing and intentional transmission of information to create a false belief in the hearer/ communicating in a way that is meant to make someone believe a fact or form an impression you know to be untrue. Deceptive Acts fall along a continuum High-Stakes Lies- those for which penalties for getting caught are severe: Fraud (material gain), felony, or personal penalties (job or marriage). Low-Stakes Lies- those for which penalties for getting caught are comparatively mild: “white lies” to avoid embarrassment or hurt resulting in emotional discomfort or guilt. Mid-Stakes Lies- those for which penalties for getting caught fall between high and low stakes lies.

Elements (all three must be present to be deception) The sender must know the information is false. You aren’t lying if you believe that what you’re saying is true. You cannot lie to yourself (sender and receiver must be different people). The sender must be transmitting the information on purpose. Deception involves the transmission of information (nonverbal), not just the transmission of words. The sender must be attempting to make the receiver believe the information. You aren’t lying if you don’t intend for others to believe what you’re saying (teasing and sarcasm). Deception is deception no matter the motives; justified or not.

Common Occurrence Component of Politeness Express appreciation Help maintain social harmony Avoids disruptions in relationships Communicating Online More frequent Protected by anonymity Exaggeration and falsification Gender switching What would happen if everyone told the complete truth all the time? How would you treat others and what would you think of others treatment of you?

Diversity Benefit the hearer Help you get to know someone Protect your privacy Help you avoid conflict Make you look better Help you avoid punishment Help you protect yourself from distress Help you get revenge on someone Help you hurt someone for no reason Protect you or your livelihood Amuse you

Deceptive Acts- Simulation Involve fabricating information or exaggerating facts for the purpose of misleading others. Falsification- outright lying, communicating false information as if it were true. Falsifying an application Telling someone you are excited about a date when you are not Exaggeration- taking a fact that is true in principle and overstating it. Exaggerating the level of responsibility at a job in an interview

Deceptive Acts- Dissimulation Involve forms of deception that involve omitting certain details that would change the nature of the story if they were known. Omission- leaving out particular details of a story to create false impressions. Salespeople (recurring fees, extras, taxes) Equivocation- expressing information that is so vague or ambiguous that it creates the impression it has communicated a message it hasn’t actually conveyed. Waiters (positive response rather than truthful)

Communication Behaviors Under normal conditions, the average person can detect deception about 55% of the time. Detecting deception is difficult. Looking for the wrong clues (Truth Bias) We want to believe most of what we hear We expect communication to be pleasant It takes mental energy to question

Clues Someone Is Lying False Information is often inconsistent Caught in a lie by a third party Visual information contradicts lie Deceivers often commit speech errors long pauses, vocal fillers (“um”/ “uh”), abruptness, and time to respond to questions Compare speech patterns that are usual to the person Deception often increases vocal pitch More reliable clue because may not be aware of pitch Pitch is higher when nervous, excited, or agitated Two eye behaviors are associated with lying Eye blinking and pupil dilation Liars often use false smiles Genuine smiles cause the skin at the sides of the eyes to wrinkle Many liars use minimum body movement Fewer hand and finger movements, forward leans, gestures, and leg and foot movements

Assess your SKILLS (pg. 399) True or False It is easier to detect deception when you are talking to a stranger than to a friend. Expressive people lie more often than unexpressive people. Detecting deception is harder with people from other cultures than with people from your own culture. We are usually more successful at lying when we are highly motivated to lie successfully. Most people are better at detecting deception when they are suspicious than when they are not. A lie communicated by e-mail is more likely to succeed than a lie communicated face to face.

Detecting Lies Familiarity Affects Detection Success People are more accurate at detecting deception by strangers than by friends Truth bias prevented friends from noticing when they were being deceived Expressive People are Better Liars Tend to be more aware and in better control of their own communication behaviors Adopt a more fluent and normal communication style More aware of other people’s behaviors More skilled at anticipating a hearer’s suspicion and correcting their behavior

Detecting Lies, cont’d. Culture Matters, but Only Sometimes People are more accurate at detecting deception within cultures more than between cultures (Visual study) People are equally able to detect deception by speakers of their own culture and speakers of other cultures (Visual and Vocal study) In face-to-face conversation, culture appears to matter less Motivation Doesn’t Always Help Motivation Impairment Effect- when people are engaged in high-stakes lies, their motivation to succeed will backfire by making their nonverbal performance less believable than normal The harder we try to control nervous energy, the more rigid, insincere, and unnatural we end up looking and sounding

Detecting Lies, cont’d. Suspicion May Not Improve Detection Ability Suspicion can make people worse at detecting lies Interpersonal Deception Theory- argues that skilled liars can detect when people are suspicious and then adapt their behaviors to appear more honest Othello error- occurs when a listener’s suspicion makes a truthful speaker appear to be lying even though she or he isn’t. Nervousness at another’s suspicion of us can make us more nervous.

Detecting Lies, cont’d. Best Detection Depends on Interactive or Noninteractive Context If friends, the context does not matter Interactive context- face-to face or telephone conversation Lies are more likely to succeed when speaker is lying to a stranger Interactivity helps create a sense of connection People pay more attention to their own communicative behaviors than the behaviors of others Noninteractive context- voice mail, email, or text

In Your Relationships- How Much Do You Lie? Truth About Deception- A Quiz http://www.truthaboutdeception.com/lying-and-deception/what-lovers-lie-about.html Floyd, K. (2017). Interpersonal Communication: Third edition. New York: McGraw Hill Education