The Art of Mendacity: Verbal vs. Written

Overview

Objectives/Goals Every time somebody lies, either while speaking or writing, they exhibit signs in their facial expressions, movements, and so on. My project investigated if people exhibit more signs of lying verbally or in written form. Methods/Materials I tested 10 people instructing them to tell 5 lies among truthful statements in both verbal and written 5-minute trials. I recorded the trials with a camcorder. They told me after the tests which statements had been lies. I reviewed the tape, looking for signs shown during lying and recording them on a checklist I made. I calculated the percent of total signs I observed out of all possible signs on the list. Results My results showed in each trial that the percent of signs shown verbally was greater than that for written. A t-test showed that the differences were significant. Conclusions/Discussion I conclude that people exhibit more signs of lying verbally than when in written form.

Awards (1)

• Category Award

Competition history

• CSEF 2003 Behavioral Sciences · Entry J0339

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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