The Effect of Gender, Deceit Orientation and Communicator Style on Macro-Assessments of Honesty

Dan O'Hair, Michael J. Cody, Blaine Goss, Karl J. Krayer

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

Recently, deception research has focused primarily on micro-analytic methods of lie detection (e.g., eye contact duration, response latency, vocal errors). This study adopted a macro-assessment approach, where deception detection is based on global evaluations of communication, specifically honesty evaluation based on communicator style. 385 subjects viewed four different videotape segments of individuals participating in a simulated job interview. Two of the individuals were truthful throughout the interview, and two fabricated false information on some questions. Subjects were asked to evaluate or assess the honesty level of these individuals, as well as assess a number of communicator style dimensions. Multiple regression analyses revealed that honesty assessments can be predicted from communication style characterized by high friendliness, attentiveness, and preciseness, and low animated and dramatic styles. Some differences were observed for communicator style predictions of honesty based on liars/truthers, subject gender, target gender, and deceit-orientation differences. Implications for future research are noted.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)77-93
Number of pages17
JournalCommunication Quarterly
Volume36
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 1988

Keywords

  • Deception
  • communicator style
  • detection skills
  • duplicity
  • gender
  • honesty
  • lying
  • machiavellianism

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Communication

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'The Effect of Gender, Deceit Orientation and Communicator Style on Macro-Assessments of Honesty'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this