Lecture 11 Flashcards
Define deception
An attempt without pre-warning to create a belief in another that the speaker believes is untrue. It’s intentional, whereas if it is unintentional then it’s considered as a mistake.
According to DePaulo, what are the 3 types of lies?
Outright lies: saying entirely different information from what you believe is true.
Exaggerations: over statements or under statements.
Subtle lies: literal truth that is meant to mislead and conceal other things.
People in relationships often use subtle lies, why?
Because they’re difficult to detect, easy to tell as there’s no fabrication, no difficulty in remembering what you said, if caught then it’s seen as less negative and there are easy ways out if caught like ‘i forgot to tell you’.
Why do people lie?
Self oriented lies: people lie to benefit themselves as lying can help you obtain materials, get psychological gain (e.g. make a good impression), avoid material loss (deny you were involved in something) and avoid psychological loss (to protect yourself from embarrassment).
Other oriented lies: people lie for other people’s benefit as it can help them in the same way as self oriented lies can and can prevent those around you from getting emotionally hurt as well as losing materials they need, like a car.
Social lies: people lie to prevent awkwardness or to prevent coming across as rude. For example, pretending to like a gift.
How do you measure how often people lie and what are the issues with the methods?
The easiest method is to ask them how often they lie per day, however, people aren’t always aware when they’re lyimg and they might not be willing to admit to lying.
Another method is to ask when they last lied, however, this has the same issues as the first method.
You could present participants with hypothetical scenarios and ask them how they would react, however, people may not respond in the same way if the scenario actually happened.
Have participants talk to someone they don’t know for ten minutes and record the number of lies afterwards via self report, however, this situation is still artificial.
The most common but complicated method is for participants to keep a detailed diary, however, social desirability is still present.
How often do people lie?
People lie about 1 and a half times a day. Most of them are outright lies and they lie for psychological reasons. Half of women have faked an orgasm and pretended to be lighter than they are. 3/4 told lies about their partner’s sexual performance. The amount someone lies depends on who they are lying to, one’s personality traits and the situation they are in.
Who do we lie to least/most?
We lie least to our friends and loved ones as there’s more desire to be honest, less opportunities to lie and we believe the other will know when we’re lying. However, students often lie to theif parents as they’re still dependent on them, care about what the parents think and they want to achieve autonomy. Almost all participants said they would lie to a date and most lie to their romantic partner in the early stages of a relationship. Most people said they would lie in an interview.
Discuss lying in relation to romantic partners
Almost all people have lied to their romantic partner at least once. Most lies are to save the relationship and the lies are a mix between self and other oriented lies.
What’s the most common lie to the opposite sex?
Males lie about career expectations and females lie by sucking in their stomach.
Discuss personality traits in relation to lying
There’s no gender differences in the frequency of lying but males’ lies tell more self oriented lies compared to woman who tell other oriented lies more. Children lie a lot to escape punishment mainly but also cause parents teach them to lie to be polite. Secure attachment people don’t lie to their partners often, avoidant lie to maintain their privacy and anxious lie to keep the other person happy. Psychopaths lie a lot and so do machiavellists (cunning and opportunistic people) but they’re well liked because they dominate conversations and seem confident. Extraverts lie more than introverts and people with social anxiety often lie to avoid attention.
Discuss research about lie detection
People correctly detected lies half of the time. However, they thought the statements were truthful more often than lies, this is truth bias. People have more faith in their lie detection skills and put less effort into detecting lies (as it’s too much cognitive load to constantlhtry and detect deceit) when they are detecting a friend, this is the relational truth bias heuristic.
Why does truth bias exist?
It’s the safe option, it’s the polite option and it follows social rules.
