(1) For Assignment #4, I chose option 1: I created my own deception experiment. I decided to call roommate from last year to invite her to lunch. When we actually got together for lunch, the topic of weekend activities arose, and I found my perfect chance to insert a little lie about what I did. I started to tell her about my weekend, and I told her that I went to New Jersey to visit my family and go to my cousin’s sweet 16. I tried to elaborate on some details of my supposed weekend activities—for example: how my bus ride was incredibly long and boring, how the weather was really cold, and how my cousin’s huge birthday bash was a success. I made up details, telling her how my cousin looked “gorgeous in her grayish-blue dress.” My friend then asked how my cousin’s hair was done, and I hesitated before I responded (to give the effect of me actually trying to remember this tiny detail) by describing to her the typical up-do many prom-goers happen to fashion off. This was all a huge fabrication and I continued to make up details as I went along with the conversation. This was a lie using rich media.

Later that day, I called my roommate to see if she wanted to study sometime soon, and I again, brought up casual conversation (this time over the phone). I steered it into the direction of my boyfriend, and as we continued our discussion, she asked how he was doing. I told her about my previous weekend, where I went to visit my boyfriend in New York City. Again, I relayed the long bus ride down, except I told her everything I did (from doing homework, to napping, to playing with my Rubik’s cube, to watching a couple of episodes of the hit television show The Office). I also gave her a day-by-day breakdown of what I did, where we went to eat, etc. I told her the truth using lean(er) media. My roommate then asked how I could afford to miss two weekends at Cornell (we are both really busy, over-achievers, and have a tough time taking time away from school), where I then told her that one of my weekends did not actually happen. I asked her to guess which weekend didn’t happen, and she said it was the weekend I spent with my boyfriend.

(2) She was surprised to discover that she was wrong! In order to maintain my appearance of not lying and not deceiving her when talking to her in person, I attempted to keep my story straight and flowing. I threw in random, fabricated details which I felt would give my story some substance. I felt that with the face to face interaction, I had more control over what I could convey. I used my hands (like I always do when I talk), and I was able to add in gestures, such as hesitating to recall a small detail. By using an extremely rich media, I was able to pass along more social cues such as controlling my expressions, and hand motions. My actions were very in harmony with the Media Richness Theory, which states that the leaner the medium, the less ambiguity about a message would exist. Thus meaning, that the richer the medium, the more ambiguity a message could have. The leaner medium was our conversation over the phone, therefore, the phone conversation was supposed to be the unambiguous exchange (which is true in this case). While I tried very hard to go unsuspected, I’m still a little bit surprised that she didn’t catch onto my lie because according to a study, “it appears we have to concentrate when we lie” (Wallace 51), and I definitely spent more time trying to “recall” the details of my weekend with my cousin. I figure it would have been easier for my roommate to detect my concentration in person since there are more social cues to critique.

(3) My partner relied on mainly the content of what I told her, as well as some of my hand gestures and motions. She knew how important family was to me, and she knows that they come before my boyfriend which is why she chose the first weekend to be true. The Social Distance Theory says that she would think I was lying when talking to her over the phone because the theory claims that people are uncomfortable when they lie, and thus, choose to distance themselves from lying by choosing a leaner medium to communicate through.