How technology and lies are interconnected — research

[MoushiAkter]

Thanks to technology, we can communicate in any convenient form from different parts of the world. But does this mean that we have become less honest with each other? Social psychologists and experts have drawn attention to the fact that the desire to deceive may depend on the chosen means of communication. Here's what the data shows.



How lies and technology are interconnected
In 2004, communication researcher Jeff Hancock and his colleagues asked 28 college students to count how many times they communicated in person, by phone, via instant messaging, and via email during a week. The students also recorded how many times they lied during each social interaction.

The results showed that people lied most often over the phone and b2b email list least often over email. This data is consistent with a concept that Hancock called the feature-based model.

According to this concept, how often we lie depends on the characteristics of the chosen communication method. For example, whether the technology allows for continuous communication, how quickly messages are transmitted, and whether people are far apart.

In Hancock's study, the technology that has all these functions—the telephone—had the highest rate of lying in social interactions. The least—the email, which allows people to communicate synchronously and the messages themselves are stored.