Kelly Morrison

How people really detect lies

A primary focus of research in the area of deceptive communication has been on peoples ability to detect deception. The premise of the current paper is that participants in previous deception detection experiments may not have had access to the types of information people most often use to detect real-life lies. Further, deception detection experiments require that people make immediate judgements, although lie detection may occur over much longer spans of time. To test these speculations, respondents (N=202) were asked to recall an instance in which they had detected that another person had lied to them. They then answered open-ended questions concerning what the lie was about, who lied to them, and how they discovered the lie. The results suggest people most often rely on information from third parties and physical evidence when detecting lies, and that the detection of a lie is often a process that takes days, weeks, months, or longer. These findings challenge some commonly held assumptions about deception detection and have important implications for deception theory and research.

What's love got to do with it? Exploring the impact of maintenance rules, love attitudes, and network support on friends with benefits relationships

Friends with benefits relationships (FWBRs) are defined as relationships between cross‐sex friends in which the friends engage in sexual activity but do not define their relationship as romantic. Relationship scholars have only recently begun to examine these relationships, despite their mention in the popular media (e.g., HBOs ‘Sex in the City,’ MTVs ‘True Life,’ ‘Seinfeld,’ and the New York Times). This study explored the relationship between FWBRs and maintenance rules, love attitudes, and network communication and support. Respondents (N = 143) completed self‐report surveys in which they described their FWBRs, their perceived rules for maintenance, perceptions of same‐sex network communication and support, and the current status of their FWBRs. They also completed the short form of the love attitude scale (Hendrick, Hendrick, & Dicke, 1998). The findings suggest that people tend to communicate their FWBR experiences to their same‐sex friends and, in general, receive supportive responses. Although attitudes toward love (e.g., agape) did not impact rules for maintenance of FWBRs, attitudes toward love did influence motivations for FWBRs and the outcomes of these relationships.

Addressing Cultural Orientations in Fear Appeals: Promoting AIDS-Protective Behaviors among Mexican Immigrant and African American Adolescents and American and Taiwanese College Students

Fear appeals threatening the individual have been shown to be powerful persuasive devices in the cultures where they have been studied. However, most fear appeal research has been conducted with members of individualist cultures. Individualist cultures place self-needs above group concerns, while collectivist cultures place group needs above self-concerns. Little is known about the effectiveness of fear appeals (or other persuasive strategies) in collectivist cultures. Two studies assessed the effectiveness of AIDS-prevention fear appeals threatening the self versus fear appeals threatening the group (i.e., family) on members of individualist and collectivist cultures. The first study focuses on African American and Mexican immigrant junior high school youth. The second study focuses on U.S. and Taiwanese college undergraduates. The results indicated that fear appeals should address cultural orientation (i.e., individualist versus collectivist orientation) to achieve maximum effectiveness. The results also indicate that one cannot assume cultural orientation based on ethnicity.Fear appeals threatening the individual have been shown to be powerful persuasive devices in the cultures where they have been studied. However, most fear appeal research has been conducted with members of individualist cultures. Individualist cultures place self-needs above group concerns, while collectivist cultures place group needs above self-concerns. Little is known about the effectiveness of fear appeals (or other persuasive strategies) in collectivist cultures. Two studies assessed the effectiveness of AIDS-prevention fear appeals threatening the self versus fear appeals threatening the group (i.e., family) on members of individualist and collectivist cultures. The first study focuses on African American and Mexican immigrant junior high school youth. The second study focuses on U.S. and Taiwanese college undergraduates. The results indicated that fear appeals should address cultural orientation (i.e., individualist versus collectivist orientation) to achieve maximum effectiveness. The results also indicate that one cannot assume cultural orientation based on ethnicity.

Examining the Influence of Trait Anxiety/Repression-Sensitization on Individuals' Reactions to Fear Appeals.

While fear appeals have the potential to be effective persuasive strategies, individual difference variables often affect the outcomes of these appeals. The present work extends Wittes Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) (1992a) by addressing how individual differences influence reactions to fear appeals. Specifically, we explore the influence of trait anxiety/repression‐sensitization on the impact of persuasive fear appeals promoting condom usage to prevent AIDS. First, the lack of isomorphism between conceptual and operational definitions of trait anxiety/repression‐sensitization is identified. Second, two models are proposed to test the influence of trait anxiety/repression‐sensitization on reactions to fear appeals (both moderational and mediational models). The results indicate that ones inherent level of anxiety influences how one perceives both the threat and the efficacy of recommended responses. However, trait anxiety/repression‐sensitization appears to have no influence—either directly, indirectly, or interactively—on attitudes, intentions, behaviors, perceived manipulation, or message derogation. The exception is defensive avoidance, which appears to be directly related to ones characteristic level of anxiety.

Encouraging Family Discussion on the Decision to Donate Organs: The Role of the Willingness to Communicate Scale

Family discussion of organ donation has been found to double rates of family consent regarding organ donation. Therefore, family discussion is an important communication process to study in the effort to get more people to become organ donors. This investigation concerns the willingness to communicate about organ donation and its relationship to other variables and processes related to family discussion of organ donation. Previous research on willingness to communicate examined the antecedent variables of knowledge, attitude toward organ donation, and altruism. This research found that being willing to communicate about organ donation with ones family is related to prior thought and intent to sign an organ donor card, to perceiving organ donation messages as credible, and to feeling relatively low anxiety after reading organ donation messages. One week after being presented with the messages, willingness to communicate was found to be positively associated with worrying about the lack of donors, engaging in family discussion about organ donation, and having an organ donor card witnessed. It was negatively related to feeling personally uneasy about organ donation during the past week.

Information Manipulation Theory 2: A Propositional Theory of Deceptive Discourse Production

Information Manipulation Theory 2 (IMT2) is a propositional theory of deceptive discourse production that conceptually frames deception as involving the covert manipulation of information along multiple dimensions and as a contextual problem-solving activity driven by the desire for quick, efficient, and viable communicative solutions. IMT2 is rooted in linguistics, cognitive neuroscience, speech production, and artificial intelligence. Synthesizing these literatures, IMT2 posits a central premise with regard to deceptive discourse production and 11 empirically testable (that is, falsifiable) propositions deriving from this premise. These propositions are grouped into three propositional sets: intentional states (IS), cognitive load (CL), and information manipulation (IM). The IS propositions pertain to the nature and temporal placement of deceptive volition, in relation to speech production. The CL propositions clarify the interrelationship between load, discourse, and context. The IM propositions identify the specific conditions under which various forms of information manipulation will (and will not) occur.

Using scare tactics to promote safer sex among juvenile detention and high school youth

Abstract Sensation seeking, or the degree to which individuals desire novel and stimulating experiences, has recently been identified as a critical variable in public health campaign research. Because fear appeals are by definition vivid, graphic, and stimulating, the present study tested the effectiveness of high and low fear appeals among high and low sensation seekers in a high school and juvenile detention center. The results indicated that low sensation seekers were persuaded to adopt safer sex behaviors regardless of the threat level of the fear appeal. High sensation seekers were not persuaded by any presentation. Explanations and recommendations for effectively influencing high sensations seekers are outlined.1

Tensions in Community Health Improvement Initiatives: Communication and Collaboration in a Managed Care Environment

Between the years 1993 and 2000, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation sponsored the Comprehensive Community Health Models (CCHMs) Initiative in three Michigan counties. CCHMs was comprised of three closely related community initiatives carried out in the midst of a failed national health care reform effort and the continued penetration of managed care arrangements into many health care systems. This experimental initiative set out to test the hypothesis that traditional healthcare system animosities and exclusionary practices could be overcome by stakeholder participation in an ongoing, structured, collaborative dialogue about improving access to health services. In the process of collecting data through surveys, interviews, content analysis, and observation, we were struck by the occurrence of several overarching tensions that we perceive to exist in our data. The present article elucidates five such tensions and suggests how third parties such as communication researchers, evaluators, and practitioners can facilitate community health improvement initiatives and better their own data interpretation by acknowledging and understanding these tensions.

Motivating Women and Men to Take Protective Action Against Rape: Examining Direct and Indirect Persuasive Fear Appeals

This article examines the effectiveness of persuasive fear appeals in motivating women to enroll in self-defense classes to take protective action against rape. Wittes extended parallel process model is used as a framework to examine the relations between perceived invulnerability, perceived fear, and fear control processes. Because women may perceive invulnerability to rape, persuasive fear appeals targeted toward them may be ineffective in achieving attitude, intention, and behavioral change toward protecting themselves. One possible solution is to persuade men to talk with women about whom they care. Results indicated that women did not perceive invulnerability to rape, and although there was no differential impact between high- and low-threat messages, women did report positive intention and behaviors in response to direct fear appeals. Moreover, men reported positive intention and behaviors in response to indirect fear appeals.

Predictors of Engaging in Family Discussion About Organ Donation and Getting Organ Donor Cards Witnessed

Family knowledge of organ donation intentions has been found to double rates of family consent regarding organ donation; therefore, it is an important communication process to study in the effort to persuade more people to become organ donors. This article reports the results of a study based on the heuristic-systematic model of persuasion designed to assess predictors of family discussion of organ donation and getting organ donor cards witnessed. Possible predictors of family discussion and getting organ donor cards witnessed included individual differences and cognitive, emotional, and behavioral factors. A path model of the process leading to family discussion and getting organ donor cards witnessed is presented and results are discussed for their practical importance.