INFORMATION MANIPULATION THEORY - A REPLICATION AND ASSESSMENT

Information manipulation theory (IMT) applies Grice's (1975; 1989) con versational maxims to the design of deceptive messages, but ignores th e role of implicatures in deception. As a result, IMT proposes a dubio us editing model of deception and an implausible conception of what it is that makes a deceptive message misleading. An alternative model, b ased on Grice's theory of implicature, proposes that deception involve s the manipulation of information so as to generate false implicatures . McCornack's (1992; McCornack et al., 1992) studies are replicated wi th the inclusion of explicit checks to determine the covertness of the pu deceptive messages and to check manipulation of information-type ( Quantity, Quality, Relevance, and Manner violations). None of the resu lts are consistent with IMT predictions. Instead, the results uniforml y support a model of deceptive message design based on conversational implicature.