Perceived deceptiveness of verbal message: An examination of Information Manipulation Theory

The present study examined, based on Information Manipulation Theory, four hypotheses concerning perceived deceptiveness of verbal message, derived from preliminary research. The hypotheses were: (1) An ambiguous message is perceived as more deceptive than an unambiguous one. (2) A message with contents of low frequency of occurrence and low verifiability is perceived as more deceptive than otherwise. (3) Perceived deceptiveness has a U-shaped relationship with length of message. (4) A message violating two maxims is perceived as more deceptive than that violating only one. An examination using a questionnaire, with 102 business college students, supported hypotheses (1) and (2). Examination of hypotheses (3) and (4) is left for future research. The computer program “GPOWER” was used in order to obtain appropriate sample size.