New York -- Moms, keep this in mind: The next time the kids call home from college, there's about a 50-50 chance they'll tell you a lie.
A study of University of Virginia college students found that when they talk to their mothers, they lie about once in every two conversations.
There's a consolation: They lie even more to strangers.
The study was based on diaries that 77 students who live away from home were asked to keep. University of Virginia researcher Bella DePaulo also asked 70 people in the Charlottesville area to do the same thing.
The college students didn't talk enough with their dads to permit a separate analysis of those conversations, DePaulo said.
She found that the closer her research subjects felt to the person they were talking to, the less they told lies about everyday things such as money and study habits.
Other research has shown that real whoppers -- like lying about an affair--are more likely to be told to people the liar is close to.
In explaining why her study suggests people may be more truthful in close relationships, DePaulo speculated that it may be harder to get away with lying when somebody knows you well.
Study participants recorded every conversation they had and what lies they told for a week. The student group reported telling a total of 1,000 lies over that time, an average of about two a day per student.
The diaries showed students lied in 28 percent of conversations with both a best friend or a regular friend; in 48 percent with an acquaintance; and in 77 percent with a stranger. Mom came in at 46 percent, and lovers, 34 percent.
Mother may have gotten a generous helping of truth, DePaulo said, because they have the power to bestow things such as money and approval.
Among the lies told to parents:
[SFRTAS comment: If students lie so frequently, how can the data accumulated from SET questionnaires be reliable?]
From:
B.M. DePaulo, S.E. Kirkendol, D.A. Kashy, and M.M Wyer, "Lying in Everyday Life," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, May, 1996, pp.979-995
College Students reported lying in approximately one out of every three of their social interactions, and people from the community lied in one out of every five social interactions. People reported lying most often about their feelings; their actions, plans, and whereabouts; and their achievements and knowledge. [If 30% of students lie on SET questionnaires, how can the results be valid ?]
Participants experienced little regret about their lies; when asked if they would tell the lie again if given a second chance, more than 70% said they would.
From:
D. A. Kashy and B.M DePaulo, "Who Lies," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, May, 1996, pp.1037-1051.
People who tell more lies were more manipulative, more concerned with self-presentation, and more sociable.
From:
Soozhana Choi, "How Many of Your Classmates Cheat ?" The National Jurist, November/December, 1996, p.14.
Fifty-four percent of respondents said they have cheated in some way while in law school, including plagiarizing, copying other students' homework, using forbidden materials during exams, and inflating their achievements on their resumes.
[If they cheat, they will lie on SET questionnaires. So how can SET data be valid, unless the students are hooked up to a lie detector device while filling out the questionnaire ?]
From:
J.R. Wambsganss and Danny Kennett, "Defining the Customer," Management Accounting, May 1995, pp. 39-41.
Placing the student as the focus of the accounting department and its curriculum may sound appropriate or even politically correct, but there are major problems with this focus and its outcomes. The term "Student" is difficult to define in accounting departments, especially those with minimal or no admission standards. There is substantial diversity regarding abilities, determination, and ambition. This diversity becomes a problem when a department is developing a focus. Should the department direct its attentions to the "best and brightest" or concentrate on those students in the lower achievement categories?
In the TQM environment, "customers' needs" and "quality" refer to end users and the degree of satisfaction end users receive from the product or service, respectively, When the student is viewed as the customer, a dilemma arises, For students, "needs" may be described more accurately as "immediate concerns," such as earning good grades on tests and in courses, graduating, or perhaps passing a certifying examination. Students cannot determine "customer needs" effectively because they are not cognizant at that moment of the types of skills or level of achievement expected by the end user.
The course evaluation is the formal instrument used by students for assessing an accounting department. Ideally, students could base their evaluation of departmental and course quality on the difference between the "facts" known at the beginning and the end of the period. The greater the difference between "fact" levels, the better the education. Unfortunately, with students' relativity narrow perception of what the accounting profession encompasses, skills such as communications, problem solving, and computer literacy may be overlooked as vital for a successful career. Focusing on the student for an effective accounting program evaluation may substantially overestimate or underestimate its quality to the detriment of the university, department, employers, and current and future students.
Considering the student as the customer may lead an accounting department, mistakenly, to recognize the importance of exam pass rates and also to present course material in a traditionally structured lecture and problem-solving format.
Fay, Ferrara, and Stryker state that "Measuring teaching excellence must include a system of evaluation by current students." Individuals who focus on the student do not consider the inevitable conflict between the two different perspectives (at least at that moment in time) and the resulting definition of quality. Quality based on current student acceptance may not be the same as quality defined by the end user of the graduates--the employer.
Continuous improvement in an accounting department's curriculum means continually meeting the needs of employer-established quality criteria. Accounting faculty also can improve the learning process as it relates to students. Student input, however, should be considered secondary to the needs of the profession.
From:
Anne R. Carey and Dave Merrill, "Generation Gap?", USA Today, March 3, 1997.
Baby boomer teachers who say these were very important to them when they were K-12 students vs. those who think they matter that much to students today:
| Important to Boomers | .....Students Today | |
| Doing well in school | .........83% | ...........37% |
| Time with family | ........66% | ...........31% |
| Preparing for career | ........64% | ...........54% |
| Active social life | ........60% | ...........80% |
| Strong religious faith | ........59% | ...........19% |
| Being active in a cause | ........36% | ...........18% |
Society for A Return to Academic Standards
Dysfunctional Behavior Article
Last Updated: 3 March 1997
