The Effect of Telling Lies on Belief in the Truth

The current study looks at the effect of telling lies, in contrast to simply planning lies, on participants’ belief in the truth. Participants planned and told a lie, planned to tell a lie but didn’t tell it, told an unplanned lie, or neither planned nor told a lie (control) about events that did not actually happen to them. Participants attempted to convince researchers that all of the stories told were true. Results show that telling a lie plays a more important role in inflating belief scores than simply preparing the script of a lie. Cognitive dissonance may lead to motivated forgetting of information that does not align with the lie. This research suggests that telling lies may lead to confusion as to the veracity of the lie leading to inflated belief scores

Making up History: False Memories of Fake News Stories

Previous research has shown that information that is repeated is more likely to be rated as true than information that has not been heard before. The current experiment examines whether familiarity with false news stories would increase rates of truthfulness and plausibility for these events. Further, the experiment tested whether false stories that were familiar would result in the creation of a false memory of having heard the story outside of the experiment. Participants were exposed to false new stories, each portrayed by the investigator as true news stories. After a five week delay, participants who had read the false experimental stories rated them as more truthful and more plausible than participants who had not been exposed to the stories. In addition, there was evidence of the creation of false memories for the source of the news story. Participants who had previously read about the stories were more likely to believe that they had heard the false stories from a source outside the experiment. These results suggest that repeating false claims will not only increase their believability but may also result in source monitoring errors

The Strength of a Smile: Duchenne Smiles Improve Advertisement and Product Evaluations

Consumer research recognizes the well-established effect of positive emotions on consumers, i.e. consumers in positive moods tend to give positive evaluations of products and advertisements. Recently, researchers have investigated the use of Duchenne smiles (genuine smiles) in advertisements to evoke positive emotions and lead to positive evaluations. Duchenne smiles are identified by the activation of both the zygomaticus major muscle (which pulls up the corners of the mouth) and the orbicularis oculi muscles (which surround the eye and result in the crow’s feet wrinkles). Peace, Miles, and Johnston (2006) demonstrated that including Duchenne smiles in mock print advertisements affects viewers’ perceptions of the ad and featured product, resulting in more positive evaluations as compared to neutral and non-Duchenne advertisements. The current research expands on Peace et al. and examines the effects of type of smile displayed in mock print advertisements that feature inexpensive and expensive products alike. Participants rated pairs of advertisements created by the researchers. Participants significantly preferred Duchenne smiling advertisements over non Duchenne and also showed significant preference in their likelihood to purchase products in Duchenne advertisements. A potential mimicry association mechanism is discussed, as well as practical implications for advertisers

The Strength of a Smile: Duchenne Smiles Improve Advertisement and Product Evaluations

Consumer research recognizes the well-established effect of positive emotions on consumers, i.e. consumers in positive moods tend to give positive evaluations of products and advertisements. Recently, researchers have investigated the use of Duchenne smiles (genuine smiles) in advertisements to evoke positive emotions and lead to positive evaluations. Duchenne smiles are identified by the activation of both the zygomaticus major muscle (which pulls up the corners of the mouth) and the orbicularis oculi muscles (which surround the eye and result in the crow’s feet wrinkles). Peace, Miles, and Johnston (2006) demonstrated that including Duchenne smiles in mock print advertisements affects viewers’ perceptions of the ad and featured product, resulting in more positive evaluations as compared to neutral and non-Duchenne advertisements. The current research expands on Peace et al. and examines the effects of type of smile displayed in mock print advertisements that feature inexpensive and expensive products alike. Participants rated pairs of advertisements created by the researchers. Participants significantly preferred Duchenne smiling advertisements over non Duchenne and also showed significant preference in their likelihood to purchase products in Duchenne advertisements. A potential mimicry association mechanism is discussed, as well as practical implications for advertisers

Fabrication inflation increases as source monitoring ability decreases

The current research looked at the effects of lying about a false childhood event on the liar\u27s memory for the event. Participants attempted to convince researchers that false events had actually happened to them. In Experiment 1, participants showed a Fabrication Inflation Effect in that they were more likely to increase their beliefs in the lied-about events than control events. Individual differences such as scores on the Dissociative Experience Scale, frequency of lying, and self-reported feelings of discomfort while lying were related to rates of fabrication inflation. In Experiment 2, participants also showed fabrication inflation and were more likely to inflate their likelihood ratings when the lie was created during a separate session from the posttest. Results from both studies support the idea that Source Monitoring failures may cause participants to increase their likelihood ratings of lied-about events. These results suggest that intentional lying may lead some participants to increase their beliefs in their own fabrications. Applications to the legal field are discussed

The Value of Virtue: An Organizational Approach to the Challenges of Workplace Disabilities

No Abstract Available