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ABSTRACT
Truth-default theory posits that absent a trigger, people passively accept communication content as truthful and honest. Most often, the idea that some communication might be deceptive does not come to mind. The current research exposed participants to one of six video clips that varied in credibility and credulity. The clips included educational lectures, political speeches, an investigative news report, and an over-the-top satirical investigative news report. Participants completed a thought-listing task about the video they watched. Automated word searches for deception-relevant terms were used to assess the frequency of expressions of skepticism and attributions of deception. Consistent with strong truth-default predictions, except for the satirical video, little evidence of incredulity was observed. The results suggest that the truth-default holds for a variety of online video content, but also that it has its limits. Extreme implausibility most often, but not always, overcomes the truth-default.
Acknowledgments
The authors express appreciation to Professor Steve Wilson whose editorial comments on a previous manuscript helped inspire the current investigation.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Correction Statement
This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Timothy R. Levine
Timothy R. Levine is Distinguished Professor and Chair of Communication Studies at University of Alabama.
Narissra M. Punyanunt-Carter
Narissra M. Punyanunt-Carter is Associate Professor & Assistant Dean of International Affairs at Texas Tech University.
Alivia Moore
Alivia Moore is an undergraduate student and McNair Scholar at University of Alabama Birmingham.