Research Topic Exploration

          I chose to watch Jeff Hancock’s TED Talk which focused on lying in the digital age. In the talk, Hancock focuses on three forms of deception that he and his team have discovered in their research: the Butlers, the Sock Puppet, and the Chinese Water Army. While I found the Sock Puppet (lies focused on identity and idealizing oneself) and the Chinese Water Army (lies focused on building a massive reputation) interesting, I don’t think I where I want the focus to be for my research paper. I really took an interest in the Butlers though. These are the little white lies that people tell each other every day that use the ambiguity of the internet to give them credence. They’re lies like, “my battery died,” or “I’m in the car now.” We use these lies to create a social buffer between us and other people in an effort to preserve our relationships with them.

          I think that these technologically-induced lies could be a potential topic for my research paper. They’re lies that we all use and/or hear almost daily. White lies aren’t something that is new to society, but is this new form that they’ve taken on changing our view on them? I wonder if we’ve become more aware, and potentially more accepting, of telling Butlers? Have we become more accepting of hearing these Butlers ourselves? When someone texts, “I’m on my way,” you often have this intrinsic feeling that really, they’re only thinking about leaving. When you say, “Sorry, my phone was on silent/vibrate,” what you really mean is, “I didn’t feel like talking to you at the moment, but here’s an appeasement so that there aren’t any negative feelings.”

          Hancock also discusses the results of his research into these forms of technological deceit. Surprisingly, He found that people were actually more honest online than they were in their face-to-face interactions with each other. He posited that this is because when we lie online, we’re leaving behind a permanent record of that deception. We often have this fantastical notion that if we post something online that we later decide was a bad choice, we can just delete it and it will disappear forever. The truth is, nothing on the net is gone forever. Our interactions and any subsequent deceit can easily be searched for and verified with a few clicks of the mouse. Something like fluffing up your resume with even slightly exaggerated information (such as past job titles or how long you were employed at a company) can quickly cost you a potential job.

          I think it would be interesting to delve further into this concept of virtual honesty and find out what, if any, avenues on the net contrast Hancock’s results. What about in situations where you can remain anonymous? Does the anonymous factor play into the use of virtual deception at all? Are people more likely to lie or exaggerate on message boards or online reviews where they can hide behind handles like bookreader13 instead of Mr. John Smith? In situations where handles or anonymous can be used, do people tend to give more weight to reviewers or bloggers that put a face with their name?

          I also think that another potential area of interest for my research paper is whether the anonymity of the internet, coupled with the fact that the majority of our interactions with people occur online, has affected our communication abilities face-to-face. This was sparked both by this TED Talk and by our discussion on whether the internet is good/bad for writing. My team, which was on the negative side of the argument, came across a really interesting article about the internet’s effect on emotion and our ability to express it. Has the virtual world lessened our ability to read social cues?

          Essentially, I think I would like to find out if there’s enough information out there to create a research paper on one of those three topics. My research questions (at their most basic level) are as follows:

1. Have we become more aware (and potentially more accepting of their use) of telling these technology-influenced white lies (the Butlers), or hearing them ourselves?
2. Does the anonymous factor influence the frequency of use of virtual deception?
3. Has the virtual world effected our abilities to read social cues in face-to-face interactions?

TED Talk

TED Talk: “The Future of Lying” (Jeff Hancock)

            In the TED Talk titled, “The Future of Lying,” Jeff Hancock discusses lying in the digital age. The average human lies at least once or twice a day. Hancock and his research team have identified three forms of deception in the technological age: the Butlers, the Sock Puppet, and the Chinese Water Army. The Butlers are the little lies that use the ambiguity that comes from using technology to create a kind of social buffer between us and other people. These are the lies like, “I’m on my way,” or “sorry, my battery died,” when in reality, you just didn’t want to talk to the person at that moment. These lies are aimed at protecting our relationships. The Sock Puppets are lies that are all about identity and idealizing oneself, such as glossing over certain facts on your online dating profile. The Chinese Water Army lies are all about building a massive reputation, such as flooding sites like Amazon with glowing reviews about your product or novel.

            Hancock’s research into these forms of technological deception turned up a surprising fact; people are much more honest online than they are when face-to-face with each other. This may be because when we lie in the virtual world, we’re leaving behind a permanent record of our deception. Our interactions and any subsequent lies can easily be searched for and verified. In addition, we’ve become aware that our digital footprint leaves behind a legacy of sorts that many are cautious about contaminating.

• Potential areas for further exploration:
  • Because much of our communication occurs in the virtual world, has this effected our ability to read social cues when face-to-face?
  • Have we become more aware, and potentially more accepting, of telling white lies (the Butlers) or hearing them ourselves?
  • Does the ‘anonymous’ factor play into deception at all? Are people more likely to lie on message boards, blogs, reviews, etc. where they can hide behind a handle?