digest
Short Summary
Main recommendation: when you suspect someone is lying to you, ask them to repeat the claim in an email, because people appear to lie less often in written messages. Based on Jeff Hancock's Cornell University study, the lie rates were 14% in emails, 21% in texts, 27% in face-to-face conversations, and 37% in telephone calls. The suggested phrase is "Can you just email me about that?"
Key Points
- Jeff Hancock of Cornell University had people log their significant face-to-face interactions, texts, emails, and phone calls for a week, then identify when they had been told a lie.
- Lies were reported in 14% of emails, 21% of texts, 27% of face-to-face conversations, and 37% of telephone calls.
- According to Hancock, people are reluctant to lie in email because their words are recorded and could be used against them later.
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions: when you suspect someone is lying, respond with the exact phrase "Can you just email me about that?" and ask for the claim in writing.
- The study's participants were asked to spend a week tracking these interactions and then review their lists to mark which ones involved being lied to.
- The lowest reported lie rate was in email, while telephone calls had the highest, at 37%.
- The transcript gives the reason for the lower email rate as the permanence of the written record, not a guarantee that written statements are truthful.
- The transcript does not describe the sample size or method beyond the one-week logging exercise.
Bottom Line
Requesting a written message is a simple way to make a suspected lie harder to tell, since the study found the lowest rate of lying in email.
