Conference to Examine the “Interplay of Truth and Deception,” Oct. 5-6

Event: Scholars from around the country will convene at The University of Texas at Austin to examine the nature of deception in “The Interplay of Truth and Deception: New Agendas,” the second in a series of academic conferences featuring up-and-coming scholars studying the most important issues in communication.

The conference is being hosted by Mark L. Knapp and Matthew S. McGlone in the Department of Communication Studies.

When: Oct. 5-6, 2007

Where: San Jacinto Hall - Multipurpose Room, Ground Floor. A map to the building is available online.

Background: People use language to tell the truth and to deceive. Sometimes the difference is fairly clear; sometimes it is hard to tell the difference; and sometimes messages interweave truth and deception. Scholars from 12 different colleges and universities have been invited to this conference to explore this complex interplay between truth and deception.

Some of the many issues these scholars will be addressing include:
Giving excuses and accounts for questionable behavior;
Deception in the maintenance of one’s self-concept;
Context as a measure of deceptive intent;
The role of deception in hypocritical behavior;
Perceptions of deception in online visual representations;
The rocky road to truthful reporting by journalists

Conference Itinerary

Friday, October 5th, 2007
San Jacinto Hall Main Auditorium

8:30-8:45
Welcome to the Conferees
Dean Roderick P. Hart, College of Communication, UT-Austin

8:45-9:10
Introductory Remarks
Mark L. Knapp and Matthew S. McGlone, The University of Texas at Austin

9:10-10:15
Keynote Address:  Finding the Weasel Word in “Literally True”
Brooks Jackson, Director, Annenberg Political Fact Check

10:15-10:30
Coffee Break

10:30-11:30
Best Face Forward: What Counts as Deception in Online Personal Photos?
Jeff Hancock, Cornell University

11:30-1:00
Lunch

1:00-2:00
Navigating the Gray Area between Truth and Deception
Gary D. Bond, Winston-Salem State University

2:00-3:00
Sincerity and Hypocrisy
Clancy W. Martin, University of Missouri-Kansas City

3:00-3:15
Coffee Break

3:15-4:15
Mostly Honest:  A Theory of Self-Concept Maintenance
Dan Ariely, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

4:15-5:15
Accounts as Social Loopholes: Reconciling Contradictions between Conduct and Culture
David H. Shulman, Lafayette College

Saturday, October 6th, 2007
San Jacinto Hall Main Auditorium

8:30-9:30
Truthtelling as a Journalistic Imperative
Seow Ting Lee, Illinois State University

9:30-10:30
The Sin in Sincere:  In Defense of Deception
Paul Martin Lester, California State University at Fullerton

10:30-10:45
Coffee Break

10:45-11:45
Quoted out of Context:  Contextomy and Its Consequences
Matthew S. McGlone, The University of Texas at Austin

11:45-1:15
Lunch

1:15-2:15
“I Read Playboy for the Articles”: Justifying and Rationalizing Questionable Behavior
Michael I. Norton, Harvard Business School

2:15-3:15
Exoneration of Serious Wrongdoing via Confession to a Lesser Offense
R. Weylin Sternglanz, Nova Southeastern University

3:15-4:15
Reflections and Final Thoughts