Does the medium influence honesty? And does the relationship between communicator and recipient play a role? An article written in The Conversation by Christian B. Miller, a philosophy professor at Wake Forest University, provides interesting new insights into how and to what extent humans lie on a daily basis.
Frequency of lies: Unraveling the myths
Historical research, explains Miller. It suggests that people lie often. A study by psychologist Bella DePaulo reported that community members lied on average per day, while students lied twice as often. However, more recent findings from Michigan State University have shed new light on this. In a new study, nearly 60 percent of participants said they hadn’t lied in a day, and half of the total lies reported came from just 5.3 percent of the group. Such findings suggest that, although lying is not pervasive, a small subset lies prolifically.
Role of the media in lying
Do you lie more via text messages than face to face? Research indicates that medium may not be the primary driver. A study by David Markowitz showed an average of 1.08 lies per day across various mediums, with frequent liars skewing the statistics. However, some methods such as emails, which are asynchronous and recordable, could discourage lying for fear of being discovered.
Relational dynamics in deception
Although lying to strangers is assumed to be more common, the nature of the lie matters. Every day white lies are told more to strangers, but the deepest deceptions are more often directed at loved ones. Perhaps preserving relationships trumps the truth in certain scenarios.
In summary, although these findings are preliminary, they provide a glimmer of hope. Most people tend towards honesty, even in today’s digital age where “fake news” now seems to reign supreme. But there still remains a minority of chronic liars that society as a whole should be wary of because even if they are a minority they could have devastating effects with new technologies.
Insights
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