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Interpersonal Deception Theory Paper

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The emergence of online communication tends to flip older communication theories on its head or even throwing out others that cannot adapt to the ever changing culture. Interpersonal deception theory or IDT is one of many communication theory that did not really focus on the idea of online communication. Although it seems that interpersonal deception theory focuses on the interplay between two parties face to face, I believe that it can still play an important role when it comes to online communication.
Interpersonal deception theory takes a closer look into the conversations held between sender and receiver in regards to deception. Created by David Buller and Judee Burgoon, IDT examines why and how one uses deception. Buller and Burgoon found that deception is often used “to avoid hurting or offending another person, to emphasize their best qualities, to avoid getting into a conflict, or to speed up or slow down a relationship” (Griffin, Ledbetter, & Sparks, 2015, p.97). Deception can be divided into 3 different strategies according to Buller and Burgoon (2015) “falsification, concealment, and equivocation” (p.98) but …show more content…

Strangers that online can further enhance their best qualities with the use of deception. It is also important to note how often one using deception with close ones. In the Wise and Rodriguez study (2013) they tried to “determine the degree to which undergraduate students engage in deceptive behavior via text messaging” (para.1). What they found was that similar to IDT once the deception was find out the thought that one used deception was looked down upon in any situation. Deception was most likely to occur with friends and family member than other messages work related. They results saw though that “text messaging is an interpersonal form of communication that circumvents professionalism and power”

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