When are people more inclined to lie? A study performed by the University of British Columbia suggests that text messaging is the preferred mode of communication for all long-nosed liars. The study was performed on 170 students using face-to-face, video, audio and text messaging communication.
Students were divided into brokers who had to sell stocks and buyers of the stocks. The brokers were told that the stock was set to lose half of its value while the buyers were only informed of this after the role-playing transaction had taken place. Buyers then reported to the researchers whether and how often they had been lied to by the brokers. The results showed that brokers would lie 95 percent more when texting than on video.
The moral of the story, if you are transacting with someone over text or email, be more vigilant. Calling or meeting someone face-to-face is how smart people close deals. After all certain physical gestures and vocal cues are the tell tales of liars.
[via Ubergizmo]
