Deception Through Text Messaging

Examining Deception through Text Messaging In Intimate Relationships

Molly Ann Warren Chad Polevoy William Ward III Derek Young Molly.Warren@rexmail.queens.edu Chadpol77@gmail.com William.Ward@rexmail.queens.edu Derek.Young@rexmail.queens.edu

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Abstract In communication, an interpersonal relationship depends on a lot of variables. One of those variables is the trust that is built up between the two people and the ways that it develops. In a romantic relationship, whether the two people communicate truthfully can be the breaking point that determines whether the relationship lasts or fails. In recent years, another variable has been added to the relationship mix: text messaging. Abbreviated messages sent from cell phone to cell phone have taken over a large portion of modern day communication. Relationships have seen all kinds of topic matter in text messaging, from arguments to pillow talk. In this study, the researchers used focus groups of five to seven individuals, plus textual analysis research to discover trends in text messaging and deception. We are hoping to find a correlation between the Interpersonal Deception Theory and the use of cell phones as a staple in intimate communication exists.

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Table of Contents

I.

Introduction:

II. Literature Review: a. Text Messaging, personality, and the social context b. Truth Bias as a Cognitive Heuristic c. Text or Talk? Social Anxiety, Loneliness, and

5 6

Divergent Preferences for Cell Phone Use

d. Reaction Times and Deception - the Lying Constant e. Honesty and Altruism among Preadolescent f.

8 9 11 12

Non Verbal Communication and Deception

g. Mobile Phones in Romantic Relationships and the

Dialectic of Autonomy Versus Connection

h. Text Messaging and Connectedness Within

13

Close Interpersonal Relationships

III. Methodology IV. Results V. Discussion VI. Conclusion VII. VIII. IX.

14 15 16 18 21

Appendix 1: Informed Consent Form Appendix 2: Signed Informed Consent Forms Appendix 3: Focus Group Questions 23

X. References

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I. Introduction Communication between two people can be a very tricky thing to analyze. People do not always mean what they say, and they are often misunderstood. In the past, it was hard to mask what you were going to say was going to be said, because you only had the options of talking face to face or over the phone. With the sudden popularity of text messaging, a lot of the communication that you do is not spontaneous, but instead gives time to edit and decide exactly what to say. Now that the number of cell phone subscribers is over three billion, and the cell phone companies make almost eighty percent of profits through SMS messaging, it is clearly becoming one of the main forms of human communication (Reid, D. & Reid, F.). On the topic of being able to choose exactly what to say and fine tune language, the question of honesty arises. The truth bias that is built with between two people is hard to create and reinforce, but easily torn down through dishonesty, but with the invention of text messaging, there are new ways to hide what is really being said; this ambiguity can cause tension in relationships. Even though it is so easy to be deceptive while using text messaging, the ability to be truthful should not be overlooked. The goal of this research project is to determine, what different things can affect truth bias in regard to text messaging, negative, and positive. II. Literature Review

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Research started with scouring EBSCOhost for relevant, full-text, peer-reviewed sources. Textual research continued throughout the project, with each group member in constant contact with the literature about the topic. This established a well-rounded understanding of the language of interpersonal communication, cell phone use, and deception. With this specific knowledge, the researchers moved into the focus groups as knowledgeable moderators, collecting topic-specific information. Looking for the literature, search terms included communication, interpersonal

communication, intimate relationships, text messaging, text messaging, deception, honesty, and trust. Articles were collected from peer-reviewed sources, specifically communication and psychology sources. The literature was divided, and each group member completed reading, analyzing, summarizing, and reviewing the sources. The group then reported what they found, educating the other group members on the research found. a. Text Messaging, personality, and the social context

From previous research it seems that the meaning of emotions varies through a text message from communicating face-to-face. Text messaging is particularly interesting because it represents a merging of written and oral communication modes(Holtgraves, 2011). It is essentially a written form of communication that takes place interactively in real-time (Holtgraves, 2011). Many subjects involved in the research said that they were more likely to disclose their real self through a text message than in a face-to-face situation. It is much easier to be deceptive through a text message because of the fact that the person cannot see the physical component of the communication, just the written component (Holtgraves, 2011). A person can be completely dishonest about a topic

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but the receiver may have no idea because of the communication is strictly written. This research is very similar with many researchers saying dishonesty is much easier through a text message due to that fact of not having nonverbal communication and body language to use in message interpretation (Holtgraves, 2011). Much of the research has found that people use the variable that it is much harder to read someones emotions through text messaging to their own advantage. Partners in intimate relationships try to make things that may cause a negative reaction seem not as bad because of the non-guilt factor that they may feel by doing it face-to-face. Many of the participants have admitted to use it to their own advantage of being deceptive through a text message (Holtgraves, 2011). Truth Bias's and around suspicions Detecting deception in deception detection tests rarely exceed sixty-five percent accuracy by the recipient of the dishonesty, meaning the person being lied to has a sixty-five percent chance of being suspicious of the message-senders honesty. So even when being dishonest, there is a less than perfect chance that the person will be able to tell they are being deceived. According to Stiff, Kim, and Ramesh, there are two procedures for measuring deception detection: 1) Even when somebody has been presented with a video of a person being truthful, to create a baseline for their truthfulness, there is still a less than sixty percent deception detection rate. 2) The second way to measure is to allow people to develop and make their own baseline about the information during the natural course of the relationship. Both studies together determine that even if you have a baseline developed through either method that there may not be any enhancement in deception detection. b. Truth Bias as a Cognitive Heuristic

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As people go further along in their relationships, they begin to develop a truth bias, where they presume the other person is being honest with them. This study conceptualizes truth bias as a cognitive heuristic. Heuristics are simple design rules that permit the evaluation of complex stimuli with limited cognitive effort. These rules of thumb serve as a substitute for careful retrieval and examination of information stored in memory. Since people in a relationship have lots of time to interact with each other, they always have the opportunity to judge the other persons behavior, and in doing this, the truth bias becomes something that can always be accessed. In relation to this study, this means that even though people are not talking face to face, they still develop a truth bias via text messaging. Focus groups show that even though they do not see the other person, they are still able to determine if the other person is being dishonest. People who have a strong truth bias are less likely to become suspicious on their own, but when given information from a third party, they are more likely to become suspicious. The longer there is suspicion, the less likely the truth bias stays strong (Sheridan, 2010). In the study, there were two levels of interviewees, truthful and deceptive, as well as two levels of pleasantness from the film clips. The first video was on Yellowstone Park and animals, and the second video was of rocket attacks killing kids and death squad attacks in El Salvador. The clips were shown to try to see the people's reaction as well as two levels of interviews suspicion, aroused and un-aroused. The experiment was conducted as such: The set of two people was split up, and one was designated the in-

terviewer, one the interviewee. After watching the videos, the first person was told to either be honest or deceptive about their feelings regarding whatever video he or she watched. The experimenter told the interviewee that he or she was to either be honest or dishonest about his or her feel-

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ings. Since the interviewer did not see the videos, they were told to ask as many questions about both videos to determine whether the person was being honest or dishonest. On the other side, the interviewers, who have not seen the videos, were told that some of the people who watched videos were told to be dishonest. Others were not told any information regarding the interviewees honesty or dishonesty, and some interviewers were told that the interviewees were told to be honest. The researchers findings say that the better the relationship, the less likely the person is to think that his or her partner is lying. The most effective way to reduce the truth bias is through a third person. When a third person arouses suspicion in the relationship, the truth bias declines. It has been proven before also that if a partner obtained diagnostic and non-diagnostic information, then he or she would be more likely to make a rash decision. Researchers came to the conclusion that future research should explore the relative importance of situational and dispositional forces in veracity judgment among intimate partners (Sheridan, 2010). c. Text or Talk? Social Anxiety, Loneliness, and Divergent Preferences for Cell Phone Use From previous literature the article talks about how much teenagers and young adults are using SMS text messaging through their relationships whether it is between friends or intimate partners. Three billion subscribers utilize cell phones (Reid, 2007). About eighty percent of the cell phone profit is through SMS text messaging (Reid, 2007). This article goes through many different reasons of why people use text messaging versus making phone calls to the people they are trying to communicate with. Goes through many different levels of social anxiety to the feeling of being wanted by someone since it is such an easy way to communicate through any type of relationship (Reid, 2007).

Deception Through Text Messaging

The research is trying to prove whether people are deceptive or dishonest through text messaging in an intimate relationship. This article discusses about the reasons that people choose to text instead of make a phone call. One reason is the time that a person has to think about what they want to say. Text messaging gives a person time to think about what they want to say to their significant other. So if a person were to be deceptive or want to be deceptive they would have time to word the text right so the other person does not think it is strange. Talking to someone face to face or through the phone is much more difficult to try and be dishonest because of the lack of time you have to reply without suspicion. When a person sends a deceptive text message it provides a nonthreatening and controllable environment so the person feels more comfortable saying what they want to send. The person achieves the amount of intimate communication they want to send or lack of that they would be able to in any other interactional setting (Reid, 2007). SMS enables the cell phone user to disengage from the multiple attention demands of real-time social interaction and focus cognitive resources on the task of composing a message, even to analyze the smallest of cues to achieve important self-presentational-goals (Reid, 2007). In this study over half of the people would rather text than make a phone call throughout the day. When a person sends a deceptive text message it provides a non-threatening and controllable environment so the person feels more comfortable saying what they want to send. (Reid, 2007) d. Reaction Times and Deception - the Lying Constant The reason for the research was to determine if there was a difference in reaction time between telling the truth, and telling a blatant lie. To avoid confusion, they decided not to analyze a

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lie that was told unintentionally. The research shows that lying intentionally ads to the time that you need to answer. Their research also shows that there is a delay when saying no, as compared to just saying yes. All of the experiments done in the journal back each other up in the sense that they all show a delay when saying no, or telling a blatant lie. Even though the people doing the experiment were only using yes and no answers, the also account for the different possibilities. Saying, the extra time taken to generate a false response is the same for both responses of the Yes/No type and is added to whatever time is needed to process the underlying question and prepare a correct response. (Sheridan, 2010). Even though it is well known that for many years reaction time is slower when being dishonest, it has really just been proven within the last 20 years. The experiment goes into say that this is better used as a truth detector, rather then a lie detector, because yes and no answers can be very basic, and sometimes hard to determine. Using this in the court system and public defense, when a convict is able to answer questions very quickly, then it makes a better case for them being innocent. The author also determines that you need to be able to formulate a distinction between true and false answers. To do this, one may speculatively suggest that a test should require a series of questions for subjects to respond to with the characteristics: questions to be structured in such a way as to meaningfully demand either a Yes or No answer; but whether the answer to each question is Yes or No be not known in advance, so some cognitive processing of the question on-line is necessary; crucial questions have to be mixed in with neutral or irrelevant questions also requiring responses as fast as possible; at least some of the innocent answers to crucial questions should require a Yes

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response so that the maximum difference between genuine and false responses will show up; crucial questions must be repeated so as to produce a sample of responses so that an average RT can be calculated and the probability of it being longer than genuine ones determined. (Sheridan, 2010). e. Honesty and Altruism among Preadolescents This article suggests that honesty and selflessness amongst males and females are driven by their emotions. Proponents of a cognitive developmental theory maintain that individual differences in moral character and behavior are functions of "ego strength factors such as intelligence, anticipation of future events, control over fantasy, and self-esteem". (Mussen, 1980) The investigation proposes that the stronger the male ego the more positive measurements their honesty. Girls who were honest and altruistic (according to peers' ratings) had warm, intimate interactions with their mothers, and high self-esteem. Boys' honesty was negatively correlated with gratifying relationships with parents and peers and with self-esteem, but altruism was associated with good personal ego strength. (Mussen, 1980) The researcher argues that research proves females are generally more compliant and conforming while boys is more likely to assert independence in thoughts and action. Honesty between men and women starts at an early age. Honesty and Altruism among Preadolescents evaluates honesty and altruism among 46 male and 49 female 6th graders by situational tests and by like-sex peers. The self-concept tests measures self-esteem and changes among parents and peers were measured. The study indicated that girls who were honest and altruistic (ac-

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cording to peers' ratings) had warm, intimate interactions with their mothers, and high self-esteem. Boys' honesty (situational) was negatively correlated with gratifying relationships with parents and peers and with self-esteem, but altruism was associated with good personal ego strength. (Mussen, 1980)

f.

Non Verbal Communication and Deception The article debates Hocking and Leathers 1980s article, arguing that individuals are more

likely to exhibit a controllable behavior that is judged as stereotypical of liars during truth-telling. The article suggest male liars suppressed leg/foot movement and the use of illustrators when lying and increased facial adapting when lying, however they revealed these non verbals if they were prepared to lie. (Cody, 1983) The article suggests that there are no gender differences for laughter/smiling or for eye contact duration. The investigation reveals that Low dominant liars employed shorter abilities prior to lying and during a prepared lie than low dominant truth-tellers. Low dominant liars also provided briefer answers and engaged in less postural shifting throughout the entire interaction than low dominant truth-tellers. Results provided general support for the Hocking and Leathers perspective. (Cody, 1983) Liars may differ significantly in the ability to monitor their own behaviors effectively and may affect better control in some contexts than in others. (Cody, 1983) The investigation uses the example of Fugita, Hogrebe, and Wexley report that liars glance more frequently and maintain

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more eye contact with an expert interviewer than with an interviewer who is not described to the liars as a trained expert. Females differ in nonverbal communication during truth telling, however anxiety is exhibited, thus providing predictions concerning the types of nervous gestures which might be displayed while lying. (Cody, 1983) The investigations suggest that some of the inconsistencies in cue leakage may simply disappear when gender is taken into consideration. Hocking and Leathers found a decrease in leg/foot movements because male respondents engage in the behavior during truth- telling and suppress the behavior when lying in order to avoid looking like a stereotypical liar. (Cody, 1983) When individuals are prepared to lie, messages of shorter duration are evidenced during lying than when telling the truth. Dominant communicators employ shorter latencies and longer messages in normal truth-telling interactions than low dominant communicators. (Cody, 1983) The investigation reports that when individuals rehearsed their lies, they were able to maintain eye contact at the same rate as when telling the truth. Males are less likely to keep eye contact than females when lying. (Cody, 1983) g. tion In the article titled Mobile Phones in Romantic Relationships and the Dialectic of Autonomy Versus Connection by Robert L. Duran, Lynne Kelly, and Teodora Rotaru, cell phone use within intimate relationships is examined for its purpose in relational communication: specifically Mobile Phones in Romantic Relationships and the Dialectic of Autonomy Versus Connec-

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time spent calling and text messaging, as well as any and all rules for cellular communication within the relationship (ie. do not call or text when at work). These researchers found a large correlation between dissatisfaction with the amount of messages received and dissatisfaction with the amount of quality time spent with their significant other. The way this study was designed, however, did not allow researchers to come to a conclusion about whether or not the rules were made in result of conflict, which would have given indications about truth bias and honesty within couples cell phone use. The research definitely showed a large amount of discourse with autonomy and connectedness, independence and intimacy. This article laid the foundation for the research conducted on truth bias and cell phone use in intimate relationships, analyzing the conflicts stemming from this technologys use within the relationship.

h.

Text Messaging and Connectedness Within Close Interpersonal Relationships In the article Text Messaging and Connectedness Within Close Interpersonal Relation-

ships by Jonathan Pettigrew also discusses autonomy in interpersonal text message communication. What users liked about this method of communication was its immediacy, constancy, and privacy. The difference between this study and the previous one was that the previous study used college-age students while this study used subjects with a much higher average amount of communication. This is relevant because of the generation gap between subjects in school, who grew up text messaging, and adults who were introduced to the technology later on and do not have the same emotional or social connotations of text messaging. This study really put a positive light on text messaging and intimate relationships, blind to the problems this method of communication can cause a relationship.

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III. Methodology Participants Subjects, all undergraduate students at Queens University of Charlotte, were selected at random from the peer circles of the researchers. The participants represented a random sample of the total Queens undergraduate population. All participants had prior experience with cell phones and text messaging, as well as interpersonal intimate relationships, which involved text messaging as a communication outlet. Focus Groups Each focus group took approximately 45 minutes, and had five to seven participants. The groups, one female, one male, and two mixed, Five to seven participants were used to ensure everyone got an equal chance to state their views and opinions, and the researchers found that this group size was ideal for facilitation. Groups were held in neutral locations around campus, with one facilitator and one recorder. The recorder, at the beginning, drew a map in the notes of where everyone present was assigned a code. Participants received a number while facilitators names were used. This ensured anonymity in collecting data. When the conversation began, the recorder would record the question number, and then the statements of participants would be numbered by the code assigned to that person on the map. The map can be referred back to if the recorder loses track of which participant is which number. Data Organization and Analysis Once the data

was collected, each researcher read through the notes taken. Data was then complied into a spreadsheet based on trends in responses. Opinion questions that had a very strong group response were

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noted as well. Since the responses were open-ended and nonspecific, the results cannot be quantified, but trends can be analyzed. Through analyzing the trends of answers, researchers found where majorities were in the answers, which led to conclusive and concrete analysis. IV. Results Researchers conducted four focus groups addressing the research question of how text messaging impacts deception within intimate relationships? Exploring the thoughts and feelings individuals have towards text messaging was the purpose of this investigation. Researchers anticipated discovering correlation between text messaging and the Interpersonal Deception Theory. This investigation revealed that text messaging was a great source of contributing to the emotional needs of individuals within intimate relationships. Investigators also found correlation between The Interpersonal Deception Theory and The Social Information Processing Theory. The Hyper personal and self-presentation perspectives shared the most correlation with the research question. Researchers analyzed data based on testimonials. 24 traditional undergraduate students from Queens University of Charlotte were used for this study. Two groups were exclusively male/female and the following two groups were co-ed. Participants combined for a total of 824 total text messages per day, ranging from 20 to 200 text messages. The average number of text messages for the participants was 37.45 text messages per day. Investigators found that text messaging was prevalent to participants because of the convenience, tangibility, and promptness of the text messaging process. In addition, the investigation revealed text messaging as a key component of long distance intimate relationships. Participants in long dis-

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tance relationships said text messaging is very important especially when your significant other is miles away. Participants in focus group 1 said, Text messaging was extremely important in my long distance relationship. It gives me another opportunity to show my significant other how much I appreciate them. However subject surprisingly admitted they much rather be found guilty of deceptions through text messaging than a face-to-face with their intimate partner. Participants said all the technological advancements of smart phones, make it is easy to place blame on the mobile phone Subject one in focus group two enjoys the personal challenge of putting her emotions into words. However both subjects agreed that text messaging is not a great source of solving conflict between a persons significant other within intimate relationships. Face-to-face conversations are the most preferred style of resolving conflict. Subjects in focus group one and two felt that it was easy to be misunderstood through text messaging, the lack of nonverbal communication during disagreements can result in the escalate the situation. there were a few situations when I asked my partner about how she felt about an issue and her rebuttal through text messaging using the words that upset me: fine, okay, and alright usually helps me determine whether they are being truthful with me or not. However, I can ask the same question and receive those same words and feel totally different in a face-to-face interaction. Nonverbal are essential! However researcher found consistency with the guilt factor. Subjects felt the absence of nonverbal communication resulted in less guilt, thus making it much easier to be deceptive through text messaging. Another key factor discovered was the time differential between sending and receiving text messages. The time table allow individuals to craft their message to be less deceptive to their intimate partner. Key indicators of deception thru text messaging were the believable excuses given to

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their significant others such as; I am not able to speak, I am in class, or the most commonly used amongst participants, my phone died. V. Discussion After finally getting through all of the research, we were surprised to find out that there was really not very much information about the topic before we started. There were articles about texting, and also articles about how people communicate in relationships, but the two have not been tied together. Throw in the information about deception and we had a full plate of information to interoperate, and make decisions about. Looking at the literature, the researchers found out that the first obvious thing is that people are clearly more likely to lie through text messaging. All of the research, even if it does not say directly, correlates with our focus group answers. When people from the focus groups responded to questions about being dishonest, almost all of them said that they were much more likely to lie through a text message then in a face to face confrontation. This tells us that the connection to the interpersonal deception theory is there. Even though people can be dishonest in person, text messaging seems to give people more confidence that they can lie and get away with it. The connection to delayed messages is also something that the research shows correlated to the research. Even though the participants in the focus groups did not know about the research, they all said that they would take extra time to carefully sculpt the words in a text message to make sure that they sound believable. In reality though, people become more suspicious when you take extra time. It was found that people find different excuses or reasons that they took so long to re-

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spond such as being away from the phone, or busy doing something and was not near their phone. The journal that talked about reaction time and deception was very enlightening for supporting the research. It is proven that taking extra time to write out a message makes the sender appear to be dishonest. It is ironic to see that when the sender takes extra time to make sure that his or her message seems natural. The lack of face-to-face communication really makes non-verbals hard to interoperate. Usually you get to see what the other persons facial expressions are, but in this case, non-verbals get lost in translation. People commented on using emoticons, and punctuating to instill a different meaning. One example that summed up the entire concept very well was when one focus group students told a story about how his girlfriend suddenly cut the length of her texts down, and started punctuating. This nonverbal message said that she was not happy, and the person receiving the messages knew immediately that there was something wrong. This works both ways though. Also being so hard to read non-verbals through a text message people misinterpret their partners emotions through a text message. Without being there in person and not seeing the others emotions a person may not feel the regret through a text message that they usually would if they were speaking face to face. Since long distance relationships now are starting to rely on text messaging, it can be hard to not text even when you would rather not rely on it. One student who is in a long distance relationship had said that he often would text his girlfriend over one hundred times a day. Since these two people know how each other text so well, and have built up a great relationship over time, their truth bias is very strong. One thing that we found is likely to lead people to believe that they

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are being lied to is the introduction of a third party who thinks the information is not true. When thinking about the Interpersonal deception theory, this is interesting. Since the theory really examines how people react to being lied to, this is a new thing. Even if the person was really confident that the person was being honest, the other person can certainly cause doubt to creep into their mind. Within the relationships, focus group participants seemed to think that women are more likely to have their opinion swayed by a third party. This set of research was also supported by another theory. The social information processing theory is about people who build their relationship over time without being face to face through text oriented messages, such as SMS messages or email. The focus group members that were engaged in long distance relationships all said similar things about how text messaging affected the relationship in general. Since the subjects have no direct time limit to send messages, and can craft the texts how they want, they found that text messaging can actually improve their relationship over time. Because online senders select, receivers magnify, channels promote and feedback enhances favorable impressions, CMC may create hyper personal relationships (Griffin, 2011). The hyper personal perspective says that people can develop a stronger message through text based, non face-to-face communication. This makes a case that people may actually be able to improve their relationships and the truth bias that people share, through text messaging. VI. Conclusion

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Although all non-verbal cues for deception are eliminated by the text-based communication of text messaging, partners of intimate interpersonal relationships have found other ways to interpret dishonesty. Components of text messaging such as length of a text, punctuation, and emoticons were cited in the focus groups as indicators of dishonesty. Another main point that came out during focus group research was the length of time it takes to receive a reply. The longer the wait, the more likely the replier was using that time to manipulate their texts so as to not be caught in a lie. Both of these indicators, content and time, are based on the truth bias developed early on in the relationship. If a partner replies to text messages immediately, his or her significant other will expect that, making a late reply suspicious. If a partner never uses smiley faces but uses one in a reply, it can indicate a lie. However, if the partner replies late more often than not and has an emoticon in most of their correspondence, his or her significant other is used to how they text message and comes to expect it. This shows a communicative adaptation; as society has moved from faceto-face interactions to computer-mediated communication, participants have found new ways to get to the truth.

Interpersonal Deception Theory covers only non-verbals in face-to-face interactions, but this research indicates that the theory should be more comprehensive within computer-mediated communication. Social Information Processing Theory speaks to this concept well; the theory discusses how message senders craft each message for the best possible interpretation, while message receivers deconstruct the message for its meaning. Senders of text messages in intimate relationships want to make certain their intended message is interpreted how he or she wants it to be, so care if taken in the composition of the message. Meanwhile, if the receiver has any suspicion of the

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sender, he or she will pick apart every detail of the message to collect as much meaning as possible.

The limitations of this study include lack of breadth with subjects, gender differentiation, focus group limitations, lack of researcher experience, and lack of access to resources. The subjects were all from one concentrated area-- Queens undergraduate classes. All subjects were in the same age range and had a similar set of college experiences. In future research, a more far-reaching collection on subjects would make results more valid. Researchers also consistently fell into the desire to analyze the two genders, comparing and contrasting them. In future research, scholars should explore the gender differences in text messaging, honesty, and intimate relationships because the information is plentiful. Focus groups had positive aspects and negative aspects. They worked well for this research, but only on the qualitative front. If quantitative research is desired, a questionnaire would be much easier to process for statistical analysis. All four researchers involved had little to no previous experience with a project of this size. Researchers with more experience could pull more detail and really analyze the information collected from the focus groups. Finally, the Queens University of Charlotte Everett Library has a very limited amount of communication resources, and although interLibrary Loan was utilized, a wider breadth of information available to the researchers would greatly improve the amount of knowledge obtained before proceeding with subject research.

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References: Cody, J., & O'Hair, D. (1983). Nonverbal communication and deception: Differences in deception cues due to gender and communicator dominance. 50(3), 172-192. Duran, R. L., Kelly, L., & Rotaru, T. (2011). Mobile phones in romantic relationships and the dialectic of autonomy versus connection. Communication Quarterly, 59(1), 19-36. doi: 10.1080/01463373.541336

Griffin, E. (2011). Social information processing theory. Retrieved from http://www.afirstlook.com/edition_7/theory_resources/Social_Information_Processing_Th eory Holtgraves, T. (2011). Text messaging, personality, and the social context. Journal Of Research In Personality, 45(1), 92-99. Mussen P, And O. Honesty And Altruism Among Preadolescents [e-book]. Develop Psychol; 1970. Available from: ERIC, Ipswich, MA. Accessed November 29, 2011. Pettigrew, J. (2009). Text messaging and connectedness within close interpersonal relationships. Marriage & Family Review, (45), 697-716. doi: 10.1080/01494920903224269

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Reid, D. J., & Reid, F. M. (2007). Text or Talk? Social Anxiety, Loneliness, and Divergent Preferences for Cell Phone Use. Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 10(3), 424-435. Sheridan, M. R., & Flowers, K. A. (2010). Reaction Times and Deception - the Lying Constant. International Journal Of Psychological Studies, 2(2), 41-51 Stiff, J. B., Kim, H. J., & Ramesh, C. N. (1992). Truth biases and aroused suspicion in relational deception. Communication Research, 19(3), 326-345. Walther, J. B. (1992). Social information processing theory. (pp. 391-399). Thousand Oaksm CA: Sage Publications, Inc. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books? id=HWLXu63TQWQC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0