發短信比當面交談更可能說真話

Being 'put on the spot' by a face-to-face question might NOT be the best way to get a truthful answer.

People tend to tell the truth more when asked questions via text message - because they have more time to think.

It also includes sensitive information that the person might not normally reveal - such as exactly how much they drink, or how much (or little) they exercise.

While the police are unlikely to switch to interviewing suspects via iPhone, it's a good way to elicit precise, true answers from friends.

‘The preliminary results of our study suggest that people are more likely to disclose sensitive information via text messages than in voice interviews,’ says Fred Conrad, a cognitive psychologist at the University of Michigan.

‘This is sort of surprising,’ says Conrad, ‘since many people thought that texting would decrease the likelihood of disclosing sensitive information because it creates a persistent, visual record of questions and answers that others might see on your phone.’

When texting, people are less likely to 'round' figures up or down, and more likely to give precise answers.

‘We believe people give more precise answers via texting because there's just not the time pressure in a largely asynchronous mode like text that there is in phone interviews,’ says Conrad.

‘As a result, respondents are able to take longer to arrive at more accurate answers.’面對面地審問某人也許不是得到真實答案的最佳方式。

用發短信的方式提問一般更能得到實情，因爲人們有更多的時間思考。

通過發短信還能得知人通常不會透露的敏感信息，比如他們真實的飲酒量，或運動量的多少。

儘管警察不大可能轉用iPhone來審問犯人，但這是從朋友那裏獲得準確真實回答的好辦法。

密歇根大學的認知心理學家弗雷德•康拉德說：“我們研究的初步結果顯示，相比語音訪談，人們在短信裏更可能透露敏感信息。”

康拉德說：“這有些令人驚訝。許多人以爲發短信會降低透露敏感信息的可能性，因爲這會產生問題和回答的持久的可視記錄，其他人可能會在你手機上看到。”

在發短信時，人們不大可能說個大概數字，更可能給出準確的答案。

康拉德說：“我認爲人們通過短信能給出更準確的答案，因爲短信很大程度上是一種非同步的通信方式，沒有電話訪談的時間壓力。”

“結果，應答者能有更多時間來想出更準確的答案。”