Adaptation and communicative design: Patterns of interaction in deceptive and truthful interchanges.

Abstract

Two theoretical frameworks which examine the nature of adaptability and mutual influence in interaction, Interpersonal Deception Theory and Interaction Adaptation Theory, were used to derive hypothesis concerning the patterns of adjustment and accommodation in communication style that occur across time in face-to-face deceptive and truthful interactions. Specifically, these theories provided predictions concerning the influence of deception on communicators' needs, expections and desires, initial behavior in face-to-face interaction, the patterns of interaction that emerge between senders and receivers such as reciprocity and compensation, and the impact of behavior on evaluation of communicative effectiveness. Two experimental studies were conducted in which senders were either truthful or deceptive in their interactions with a partner. The first study, which included 48 same-sex dyads, provided information about the influence of needs, expectations, and desires on initial behavior and about the influence of interaction on these same factors. The second study, which included 48 same-sex dyads, involved a longer interaction in which receivers altered their behavior by increasing of decreasing conversational involvement, in order to examine the patterns of interaction that emerged across time. Results revealed that deceivers felt more anxious and were more concerned about self-presentation than truthtellers prior to the interaction. These differences were reflected in initial behavior, with deceivers displaying less conversational involvement than truthtellers. Patterns of interaction were also moderated by deception. Deceivers displayed increasing involvement across the first half of the interaction, a pattern indicative of approach behavior and which seemed to allow them to better approximate truthteller behavior. In response to changes in receiver behavior, a general pattern of reciprocity emerged in deceptive and truthful interactions, with senders responding in kind to changes in receiver behavior; however, deceivers appear to have been somewhat less responsive than truthtellers to changes in receiver behavior. Finally, results revealed that partner behavior is an important source of information for evaluating one's own performance during interaction. The implications of these findings for Interpersonal Deception Theory and Interaction Adaptation Theory are discussed.