Suspicious Receivers’ Goals and Behaviors 23
A major limitation of the study is the small sample size. A sample of seventy-three
college students was not sufficiently big to give a strong power to the findings of the study.
Therefore, it should be noted that the eleven goal categories and seven behavioral categories
derived from the data may not be exhaustive and may not be generalizable to the population out
of the sample. Also, male participants constituted a very small portion of the sample; therefore,
gender differences could not be accounted for. Further research with bigger sample is suggested
to make more reliable and powerful claims on a suspicious receiver’s cognition and behavior and
also to allow gender comparisons.
The present study focused its discussion on the identification of a suspicious receiver’s
interaction goals and strategic behaviors, and finding links between them. In future research, it
would be interesting to examine the impact of various situational factors (e.g., interaction stakes,
emotion, relational commitment) on a suspicious receiver’s goal dynamics and behavioral
strategies. Also, researchers can investigate whether the findings of this study within dating
relationship are applicable to other social contexts (e.g., family, married couples).
Despite the limitations, the present study makes significant contributions to the study of
deceptive communication. The study successfully resumes a suspicious receiver as an active
agent in deceptive communication. In addition to the pragmatics of suspicious receivers found in
previous research, the present study further explicates receivers’ active involvement to the
interaction by delineating their various interaction goals and strategic behaviors. At a practical
level, it is believed that findings of this study could benefit laypersons. By identifying various
goals and strategies that suspicious receivers develop, we may assist individuals (e.g., parents,
romantic couples) to make more informed judgments about how to cope with suspicion in a more
appropriate and effective manner.
Convention