Lies in the Eye of the Beholder: Asymmetric Beliefs about One’s Own and Others’ Deceptiveness in Mediated and Face-to-Face Communication

Abstract: This article examines how people's beliefs about deception in text-based media (ie, email, instant messenger) and face-to-face communication are distorted by two biases:(a) a self-other asymmetry, whereby people believe themselves to be more honest than their peers across communication contexts; and (b) a media intensification effect, whereby the perceived gap between one's own and others' deceptiveness is increased in text-based media, whose affordances (eg, reduced nonverbal cues) are believed to facilitate ...