Study: People Lie More When Texting

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Researchers Call It The "Spotlight Effect"

Only a few people can lie through their teeth, but it looks like most of us can lie through a text message. A new study has found that people might be more likely to tell a fib when they're texting.

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The study, published in the Journal of Business Ethics, found that business students were much more likely to lie in text messages than they would communicating through other methods.

David Yu, an assistant business professor at Wichita State University School of Business in Wichita, Kansas, partnered with the University of British Columbia (UBC) and had 170 UBC students do fake stock trades either over the phone, in person or through text messages.

The students, acting as brokers, were told they would get cash to sell stocks that they KNEW were going to drop in value by half. Buyers, on the other hand, were told they would get cash if their stock did well. After the deals were done, researchers asked the buyers if they thought their broker had lied.

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The results? Buyers who made the deal over text message were 95 percent more likely to report their "broker" was a liar compared to those who did it over video chat.

Researchers, who hope the study's findings can contribute to awareness of online fraud, believe the results point to the "spotlight effect" -- a perception that you are being more closely watched or scrutinized when you communicate in person or over video.