Suspicious Receivers’ Goals and Behaviors 6
interaction goals. In the following section, previous research on uncertainty reduction and
relationship protection will be briefly reviewed in the context of suspicion.
A Suspicious Receiver’s Interaction Goals
The strategic perspective of human interaction has been of primary interest in the study
of interpersonal communication processes (Berger, 1997). The impact of goals was found to be
substantial throughout various aspects of communication process. For example, Srull and Wyer
(1986) noted that goals influence an individual’s perception, interpretation and evaluation of a
message, and also impact the person’s selection of behaviors. In the study of deceptive
communication, however, a receiver’s interaction goal has not gained much attention, whereas a
deceiver’s interaction goal has been a primary focus of the literature (see Buller & Burgoon,
1994, for review). As a result, little is known about a suspicious receiver’s interaction goal,
despite its apparent relevance to the study of deceptive communication, and the strategic
perspective of the receiver’s behavior is largely in need of attention.
Hence, the present study attempts to identify a suspicious receiver’s various interaction
goals. The underlying presumption is that a suspicious receiver would possess multiple
interaction goals, the configuration of which would lead the person to engage in certain
behaviors in response to the message of the sender. It is expected that identifying the goals of a
suspicious receiver would provide significant insights to the receiver’s strategic behavior in
deceptive communication.
Suspicion and Uncertainty Reduction
Suspicion has not been specifically discussed in association with uncertainty in previous
research, but it is highly likely that suspicion would raise uncertainty. As defined, suspicion is an
uncertain belief about the other’s duplicity, which can fall at any point in the “truth-falsity
judgment continuum” (Buller & Burgoon, 1996, p. 205). Buller and Burgoon’s definition of
Convention