Dilated compared to constricted pupils have been found to increase several prosocial behaviors and impressions in interaction partners, including trust decisions, as well as ratings of friendliness...Show moreDilated compared to constricted pupils have been found to increase several prosocial behaviors and impressions in interaction partners, including trust decisions, as well as ratings of friendliness and attractiveness. Dilated pupils have also been found to decrease lying in a coin-toss game where lying harmed the other person. It has been suggested that this decrease in lying might be caused by enhanced social bonding. Since increased attractiveness has also been linked to enhanced social bonding, this study investigated, whether perceived attractiveness mediates the relationship between pupil size and lying. To investigate this, a coin-toss game has been used where the participants were asked to make private predictions about the outcome of a coin-toss. They were then asked whether or not their predictions were correct. For each correct prediction, they earned some money, and their interaction partner lost some money. For each incorrect prediction, only their partner earned some money. The passive interaction partner was a confederate wearing contact lenses with either dilated or constricted pupils. After this coin-toss game, they were asked to rate their interaction partner’s attractiveness. The relationship between pupil size and lying, as well as the mediation of attractiveness, were found to be non-significant. Therefore, attractiveness does not seem to mediate the relationship between pupil size and lying. These results do not fit earlier findings. A number of possible explanations are suggested for the unexpected results. However, more research is needed to investigate these suggestions and to fully understand the effect of pupil size on lying.Show less
The brutal assassination of an investigative journalist and his fiancée not only provoked the biggest protests in Slovakia since the Velvet Revolution, the exchange of leading politicians and...Show moreThe brutal assassination of an investigative journalist and his fiancée not only provoked the biggest protests in Slovakia since the Velvet Revolution, the exchange of leading politicians and police officials, but it also set off an avalanche of cases and shocking revelations filled up with different kinds of lies and denials. Many of those were uttered by the then Prime Minister of Slovak Republic, Robert Fico. This thesis aims to analyze and determine the extent to which different kinds of lies can be connected to and used as defense strategies. The case study is based on selected instances of Robert Fico’s statements linked to the investigation of the murder and his arguments against Slovak journalists in general. The theoretical framework provides a closer look into the theory of lying, different approaches to what constitutes a lie, and how they can be applied and divided. As far as defense strategies are concerned, this thesis employs the classical rhetorical theory of stasis and its interpretation to create a classification of the ways in which people can defend themselves. The analysis of this thesis is conducted based on the theoretical framework and analyzes selected instances of Fico’s lies according to the definition of lies determined in the theoretical framework. Furthermore, the evaluated lies are examined in terms of defense strategies. Later on, the results are discussed and concluded providing a clear illustration that a person can use lies as defense strategies in cases when those lies are not recognizable as such or are implicit and therefore easy to deny.Show less
This research is aimed at characterizing the Dutch law of perjury with theories of lying as described by philosophers of language. In American law various inconsistencies of perjury cases led to...Show moreThis research is aimed at characterizing the Dutch law of perjury with theories of lying as described by philosophers of language. In American law various inconsistencies of perjury cases led to research on the topic. Those studies all have concluded that lying and perjury differ greatly in several notable areas. Often discussed is the well-known perjury case of former US President Clinton. Research states Bill Clinton obviously was not speaking the truth, but he was never impeached with perjury. Possible explanations could be a political agenda or the lack of adequate evidence. This research paper will discuss the differences between the Dutch and American legal systems, as well as offering a critical analysis of why these systems differ. The central question in this research answers in what ways the Dutch law of perjury can be characterized by the pragmatic theories of lying. Four court cases, all different in outcome, will be linguistically analysed. The linguistic analysis performed in this research is based on Grice’s maxims of Cooperation, Searle’s Speech Act theory, the provided definition of lying and the analytic tools as described by Shuy. This will provide various insights in the interpretation of the Dutch perjury law. Based on the results, this research paper concludes that lying cannot perfectly characterize the Dutch law of perjury, however, they cannot be fully separated from each other either. What this analysis clearly shows are the possibilities of a linguistic analysis when discussing perjury lawsuits. The discourse analysis can provide insights in someone’s intentions, as well as the weaknesses in someone’s statements. This paper strongly promotes the statement that using linguistic analyses is beneficial to the legal system, especially in court cases concerning crimes of language.Show less
This study explores the nature of lying and its relationship to fiction. The purpose of this study is to challenge Meibauer’s (2015:158-182) claim that fiction cannot lie because authors do not...Show moreThis study explores the nature of lying and its relationship to fiction. The purpose of this study is to challenge Meibauer’s (2015:158-182) claim that fiction cannot lie because authors do not present their fiction as true. In doing so, this study will provide a compare-and-contrast analysis of the opening title cards of Joel and Ethan Coen’s film Fargo (1996) and Spike Lee’s film BlacKkKlansman (2018). Whereas the opening title card of the latter film appears to justly claim that it is based on a true story, the former appears to falsely assert this. This suggests that fiction may possess the capacity of lying. To determine this, the first chapter of this study establishes a pragmatic definition of lying, which, in essence, entails a speaker (S) asserting a proposition (p) which he/she does not believe in. Since this study focuses on fiction, the second chapter endeavors to establish a definition of fictional communication, which, in essence, entails an author (U) performing assertive illocutionary acts through fictive utterances and an audience (H) who ought to make believe the propositions (P) put forward in these utterances. The analysis and results of this study, which applies the theory provided in the first two chapters to the title cards of Fargo (1996) and BlacKkKlansman (2018), indicate that a speaker may well lie by means of a work of fiction.Show less
This thesis provides an exploratory account of white lies in Dutch. There is no literature explicitly dedicated to white lies in the Dutch language. This gap provides the starting point for this...Show moreThis thesis provides an exploratory account of white lies in Dutch. There is no literature explicitly dedicated to white lies in the Dutch language. This gap provides the starting point for this exploratory study which aims to contribute to a wider research agenda investigating the definition of lying and how different types of lies may be distinguished in different contexts and cultures. The main research question of this thesis is: How are white lies used by native speakers of Dutch? A two-part investigation, consisting of a questionnaire and a role-play, shows that native speakers of Dutch use white lies in everyday conversations. White lies are used to benefit both the speaker and the hearer, but they are also used to avoid undesirable scenarios.Show less
After Lance Armstrong, seven time Tour de France winner, confessed to the use of performance-enhancing drugs during all seven of his wins, one might wonder why people kept believing in his...Show moreAfter Lance Armstrong, seven time Tour de France winner, confessed to the use of performance-enhancing drugs during all seven of his wins, one might wonder why people kept believing in his innocence for many years. This thesis examines the linguist-stylistic features that Armstrong uses to persuade the interviewer in his 2005 deposition. Additionally, it investigates to what extent assumed linguistic signs of lying are present in Armstrong’s language use. By identifying the stylistic choices through inductive and deductive stylistic analysis, this thesis attempts to determine how these choices contribute to Armstrong’s persuasiveness. The results show that Armstrong uses different stylistic choices that can be placed in the overarching categories of repetition, hedges, intensifiers and conditionals. Determining the presence of linguistics signs of lying in his language use proves to be rather difficult. In the end, there appears to be a certain a balance in Armstrong’s stylistic choices that possibly contributes to his persuasiveness.Show less
