MedicineNet.com
New research suggests that people are more likely to lie to strangers when they're communicating via email or instant messages rather than when they are talking face-to-face.
"It's not news that we lie. What's new is that we lie even more online," said study author Mattitiyahu Zimbler, a graduate student and senior researcher at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.In the study, the researchers recruited 220 undergraduate students and told them to converse with people of the same gender for 15 minutes, via email, instant message or face-to-face.
The participants introduced themselves to each other and researchers recorded their conversations. Then the researchers asked the participants to look at transcripts and note when they lied.
The researchers found that the participants averaged about 1.5 lies during each 15-minute period.
The lies tended to be minor, often matters of omission. One said, "I am short, credit-wise," instead of acknowledging the failing of classes. Some said they were doing "well" or "good" when that wasn't actually the case; one said "I wanted to be a waitress," when that wasn't true.
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