Can the understanding of the speech act of lying change in two decades? And according to gender, schooling and age?

Abstract

The aim of this experimental research is to evaluate the understanding of the speech act of lying from the prototype theory. Which speech acts contain all the cognitive elements (or some of them) that are considered or not a lie? A study in the 1990s was replicated to test whether the understanding of lying changed after 21 years, and whether this understanding can vary according to gender, schooling, and the age of the individuals who participated in the research. We concluded, of the 8 stories judged by 89 people, 3 stories were classified (between lie and not lie) differently from 1994 to 2015. Yet, 2 stories had different judgments with respect to age and one of them was considered not a lie by the majority of women, while men were divided into considering such speech act a lie or not.