First Impressions After Various Types of Deception: Less Favorable Following Expectancy Violation

This experiment involving 96 undergraduates tested whether the expectancy-violation model could explain how different types of discovered verbal deception influence first impressions. A female confederate responded to a participant's question about her weight with a lie, true, secretive, or technically true (i.e., equivocal) statement. The confederate who lied or kept her weight a secret was less well liked, was seen as less moral, was less likely to be recommended as a dating partner, and made a worse overall impression than one who told the truth or equivocated. Violation of expectations for an honest answer mediated the relation between type of deception and both liking and recommendation as a dating partner. Thus, violating people's expectations for an honest answer can cause one to be seen in a less favorable light.