Lying: Roommate Relationships in the Western College Program (Draft 1)

It is our intent as a group to investigate the relationship between deception and self-deception through a survey taken by residents in the Western College ProgramDorms (Peabody Hall, McKee Hall and Mary Lyon Hall).

Some questions we wish to cover in our research:How often do lies occur between roommates? What do the lies pertain to? What are some of the reactions/results of the lies? What causes someone to lie to theirroommate? Is there a feeling of guilt afterwards? Do people begin to believe the lies they tell (does it become truth)? Are there times when it is "necessary" to lie?

We predict that lies are commonplace, and we do not expect to find a significant difference in lying between sexes and age. We are interested in investigating the issueof religion and it's correlation to lying. Our prediction is that as the extent of religious belief increases, the instances of lying decrease.

Data will collected through anonymous surveys/questionaires. We would like to look into several case studies, which would require interviewing the liar while maintainingtheir anonymity. There is a concern that we are not allowed to go door-to-door on main campus dormitories, so we will be confining our field of study to WesternCampus. We would like to tie in some library research with the case studies--investigating the possible causes of lying in terms of human nature.

Eric Paul JohnsonMichael Paul LoeffelmanJohn Andrew Vankat

Barnes, J.A. A Pack of Lies: Towards a Sociology of Lying. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom: 1994.

Brown, Alison Leigh. Subjects of Deceit: A Phenomenology of Lying. State University of New York Press, New York: 1998.

Ford, Charles V. Lies! Lies! Lies!: The Psychology of Deceit. American Psychiatric Press, Washington, D.C.: 1996.

Goldberg, M. Hirsh. The Book of Lies. William Morrow and Company, Inc., New York: 1990.

Schwartz, Barry. The Battle for Human Nature: Science, Morality and Modern Life. W.W. Norton and Company, New York: 1986.

Slaght, W.E & Edwin D. Starbuck, Ed. University of Iowa Studies in Character: Untruthfullness in Children, Its Conditioning Factors and its Setting in Child Nature.State University of Iowa, Iowa City: 1928.

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Here is a list of responses that have been posted to this Study...

• Lying? (2/14/01) [ Contributor: Lene M., Allison V., Mike F. (aka Towny)-Section: Myers ]
• Roommates that lie (2/13/01) [ Contributor: Anna Bowling-Section: Myers ]
• Lie, Lie, Have Some Fun! (2/12/01) [ Contributor: Hays Cummins-Section: Cummins ]
• Go see Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2/8/01) [ Contributor: Alec, Jordan and Lyndsey-Section: Cummins ]
• are you a lier? (2/7/01) [ Contributor: marta and caroline-Section: ]
• We cannot tell a lie... (2/7/01) [ Contributor: Leesa, Abeni, & Heather-Section: Cummins ]
• Lying Roomates! (2/6/01) [ Contributor: Melissa, Brandy, Nikki-Section: Cummins ]
• L&s response 9 (2/6/01) [ Contributor: leslie and sarah-Section: cummins ]
• Our Response (2/6/01) [ Contributor: Nicholas Burns and Levi Groom-Section: Cummins ]

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