We’ve all heard that it is in human nature to deceive people. Whether it is a malicious lie or a “harmless” white lie, we all do it especially when there is something big on the line (say a relationship or money).
Well, the Internet is no exception to the fallibility of human beings. According to ScienceBlog, The University of Massachusetts says that the written word has no shield against the daily deception of humans.
As a matter of fact, we lie even more in emails and texts than in person. At least that is what Robert S. Feldman, professor of psychology and dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, and Mattityahu Zimbler, a graduate student, published in the October issue of the Journal of Applied Social Psychology.
The researchers studied 110 pairs of college students and found that there is deception in all three forms of communication but it increases with our technological advancements of instant messaging and e-mail.
Why is it more prevalent to lie in cyber space than to the person right next o you?
The researches both agree that, “It seems likely that the asynchronicity of e-mail makes the users feel even more disconnected from the respondent in that a reply to their queries is not expected immediately, but rather is delayed until some future point in time.”
“Ultimately, the findings show how easy it is to lie when online, and that we are more likely to be the recipient of deceptive statements in online communication than when interacting with others face-to-face,” says Feldman.