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Testing truth-default theory, individual-level variation in lie frequency was parsed from within-individual day-to-day variation (good/bad lie days) by examining 116,366 lies told by 632 participants over 91 days. As predicted and consistent with prior findings, the distribution was positively skewed. Most participants lied infrequently and most lies were told by a few prolific liars. Approximately three-quarters of participants were consistently low-frequency liars. Across participants, lying comprised 7% of total communication and almost 90% of all lies were little white lies. About 58% of the variance was explained by stable individual differences with approximately 42% of the variance attributable to within-person day-to-day variability. The data were consistent with both the existence of a few prolific liars and good/bad lie days.

What constitutes truthfulness and deception in everyday human interaction is not a simple, straightforward phenomenon. In the current chapter, we provide readers with a concise understanding of truthfulness, deception, and related concepts. We also raise important questions about the competing desires humans have regarding truthful and deceptive communication, various gray areas where the nature of truth and deception are blurred, and the ethics of potentially deceptive messages.

Recent international events have heightened global interest in the North Korean regime’s engagement with the world; however, information about North Korea remains largely nebulous, due to the continuing secrecy of the regime. This study provides a rich understating of North Korean refugee identity and gives voice to individuals who have experienced the oppressive conditions of North Korea, their often dangerous escapes via multiple countries, and nonlinear or frequently difficult times of readjustment. It takes as its focus the role and impact of deception in different stages of North Korean refugee life before, during, and after escape. Specifically, we examine how North Korean refugee memoirists discuss the topics of truthfulness and deception in their own words. Using thematic analysis, we discovered three primary themes, including discovering and dealing with propaganda, deceiving as a means of survival, and finding the truth and living to tell it. Lastly, we end with a call to action aimed at empowering survivor voices, utilizing information to create change in North Korea, and offering future directions for scholars, practitioners, and human rights advocates.

This paper investigates reports of transformative nonverbal behaviors: cues that act as important interactional triggers for a change in or between people in a relationship. To explore such behaviors, we asked participants to report on any situation in which they recalled one or more nonverbal cues that they or others used and that changed something for them. The most commonly reported nonverbal cues that instigated transformation were facial expressions, eye behavior, touch, and the use of personal space. Vocal cues (particularly silence), gestures and other kinesic cues (e.g., walking away), use of time, and attire were also mentioned. Using the constant comparative approach, we found four large categories of changes the participants reported as resulting from these nonverbal cues and provide examples of these change types from our data corpus. We labeled these “relational,” “perceptual,” “affective,” and “behavior”. Our analyses revealed that judgments of the behavior/event’s valence correlated positively with judgments of their relationship, the other person, and themselves, suggesting that the affective judgment of a nonverbal turning point event may have strong implications for other important judgments. Vocal cues seemed to be involved in events that were labeled more negatively, and touch was a cue in events labeled more positively. Finally, eye behaviors were consistently a part of events that were reported to result in changes in perception.

The purpose of this study was to investigate college teachers' experiences of relational turning points with their students, as well as how these turning point events may affect teacher outcomes. Teachers who were able to identify a relational turning point event with a student (n=306, 78.5% of the overall sample) completed open- and closed-ended questions about the event. Analysis of participants' responses yielded four distinct supracategories of relational turning point events, comprised of consultation, transgression, intimation, and realization of student potential or success. Teachers who reported intimation and realization of student potential or success turning point events also indicated increased liking for students, teacher–student interpersonal relationships, teacher self-efficacy, teacher motivation, and teacher job satisfaction. Teachers who reported transgression turning points indicated decreased liking for students, teacher motivation, and teacher job satisfaction. Teachers who reported c...

Courses: Research Methods, Communication Theory Objective: Students will understand and engage in the grounded theory research method

Courses: Public Speaking, Advanced Public Speaking, Argument and Debate Objective: Students will learn in-depth about a speech or presentation genre they see as relevant to their future, and be able to prepare and present such a speech or presentation

The purpose of this study was to investigate teacher–student interaction using a relational frame (i.e., describing the student–teacher dynamic as inherently relational). Specifically, we focus on turning points and their potential outcomes in student–teacher relationships. Students who were able to identify a relational turning point event with a college teacher (n = 394) completed open- and closed-ended survey questions about the event, its outcomes, and their learning and motivation. Analysis of participants’ responses yielded six meta-level categories of turning point events, most of which were positively valenced: instrumental, personal, rhetorical, ridicule/discipline, locational, and other person. Our analysis also yielded 11 categories of outcomes of relational turning point events. Two of these—changes in willingness to approach the teacher/seek help and changes in perceptions of their relationship with the teacher—were common to personal turning point events. Students who reported positive instr...

Infidelity “is a complex issue that may result in substantial losses for relationship partners” (Boekhout, Hendrick, & Hendrick, 1999, p. 97). Extrarelationship involvement, for many betrayed partn...

This exploratory study analyzed which types of acts involving the Internet are considered most severe, sex differences in the perceptions of infidelity, and the evaluation of infidelity when one commits it versus one's partner. Two-hundred and eight participants rated the severity of 44 specific acts (e.g., disclosing love to a person met in an Internet chat room) on either the self-infidelity or partner-infidelity questionnaire. The results indicated that involving/goal-directed acts were rated as more severe than superficial/informal acts, women viewed involving/goal-directed acts of Internet infidelity as more severe than did men, and partner-infidelity was perceived as more severe than self-infidelity. The severity of 44 specific acts are also provided, and this information advances our ability to describe infidelity on the Internet and predict if, and to what degree, others will consider particular actions as infidelity. The implications of these results, as well as future directions, are discussed.

Nonverbal cues occur in all of our interactions, but they are particularly important in our close relationships (Noller, 2006). People show affection, distrust, love, disappointment, and myriad other messages through nonverbal modes of communicating with their loved ones (see, for e.g., Guerrero, 1997; Floyd, 2006). They also reflect how people define their relationship with one another (i.e., as romantic, as unequal, as formal) (Burgoon & Hale, 1984). People may, for example, enact their relationship as an intimate one by gazing at one another in a loving way or holding hands in public (Andersen et al., 2006). Or they may show that a relationship is uncertain, with intimate behaviors used tentatively. In such cases, the nonverbal cues are functioning as reflections of what the relationship means to, or how it is defined by, the people in those relationships.

When I was an undergraduate student enrolled in large-lecture classes, I recall feeling oddly isolated, having little to no interaction with my “sage on the stage.” I sensed an invisible wall separ...