DECEPTIVE REALITIES - SENDER, RECEIVER, AND OBSERVER PERSPECTIVES IN DECEPTIVE CONVERSATIONS

Deceptive interpersonal interactions are an ideal venue in which to ex amine the issue of reality. Interpersonal deception theory offers a fr amework for considering why deceivers (by convention called senders), coparticipants (i.e., targeted receivers), and observers arrive at dis cordant views of reality. Deceivers' ulterior motives lead them to con struct through communication a version of reality contrary to what the y hold to be true. Due to adherence to Gricean principles of cooperati ve discourse, conversational demands, and the nature of the relationsh ip between participants, interlocutors as well as nonparticipative obs ervers may be inclined to accept the alter reality created by senders rather than apprehend the ''true'' state of affairs. Recent research f indings are reviewed, and original data from a pilot investigation of deception strategies are presented to illustrate ways in which senders may perpetrate deception and the extent to which receivers and observ ers recognize such machinations.