While deception is a common strategy in interpersonal communication, most research on interpersonal deception treats the sex as irrelevant in the ability to detect deceptive messages. This study examines the truth and deception detection ability of both male and female receivers when responding to both true and deceptive messages from both male and female speakers. Results suggest that sex may be an important variable in understanding the interpersonal detection probabilities of truth and of lies. An interaction of variables including speakers’ sex, receivers’ sex, and whether the message is truthful or deceptive is found to relate to detection ability. Both women and men were found to be significantly less accurate than chance in judging the veracity of statements made by men, especially when those statements are lies. On the other hand, both women and men were significantly more accurate than chance in judging the veracity of statements made by women, especially when those statements are truthful. This may suggest that men are better deceivers than women, while women seem more transparent in exhibiting feelings about their messages whether being truthful or deceptive. In recalling real life deceptions discovered previously, women reported that they discovered significantly more lies from female sources than from men they knew. This finding may reflect the previous finding that discovering lies told by women is more likely than is discovering lies told by men.

La thèse sur papiers analyse les impacts des faux avis en ligne sur les relations sur le marché. Une séquence structurée des études qualitatives et quantitatives explore les perceptions des consommateurs et leur comportement relativement aux faux avis et étudie les solutions possibles pour détecter la communication trompeuse. La recherche confirme l'importance du phénomène des faux avis en ligne pour le marché et la nécessité de mesures opportunes anti-tromperie; des solutions pratiques et un agenda de recherche sont suggérés. / The paper-based thesis analyses the impacts of fake online reviews on marketplace relationships. A structured sequence of qualitative and quantitative studies explores customer perceptions and behavior with regard to fake reviews and investigates possible solutions to detect deceptive communication. The research supports the importance of the phenomenon of fake online reviews for the market and the necessity of timely anti-deception measures; both practical solutions and research agenda are suggested.