Lying in everyday life.

In 2 diary studies of lying, 77 college students reported telling 2 lies a day, and 70 community members told 1. Participants told more self-centered lies than other-oriented lies, except in dyads involving only women, in which other-oriented lies were as common as self-centered ones. Participants told relatively more self-centered lies to men and relatively more other-oriented lies to women. Consistent with the view of lying as an everyday social interaction process, participants said that they did not regard their lies as serious and did not plan them much or worry about being caught. Still, social interactions in which lies were told were less pleasant and less intimate than those in which no lies were told.

Effects of social support and relapse prevention training as adjuncts to a televised smoking-cessation intervention.

Smokers registering for a televised cessation program who also expressed interest in joining a support group and who had a nonsmoking buddy were randomly assigned to 3 conditions: no-contact control, discussion, and social support. All Ss received a self-help manual and were encouraged to watch the daily TV program. Ss in the discussion and social support conditions were scheduled to attend 3 group meetings (one with a buddy). Social support Ss and buddies received training in support and relapse prevention. A 4th analysis group was composed of Ss who failed to attend any of the scheduled meetings (no shows). There were strong group effects at the end of treatment. Abstinence rates were highest in the social support group, followed, in order, by the discussion group, no shows, and no-contact controls. The social support group improved outcome by increasing both the level of support and program material use (reading the manual and watching TV).