Individual differences in self-reported lie detection abilities
Fernandes,Mélanie Jonauskaite,Domicele Tomas,Frédéric Laurent,Eric Mohr,Christine
Fernandes,Mélanie
Jonauskaite,Domicele
Tomas,Frédéric
Laurent,Eric
Mohr,Christine
Abstract
Previous literature on lie detection abilities bears an interesting paradox. On the group level, people detect others’ lies at guessing level. However, when asked to evaluate their own abilities, people report being able to detect lies (i.e., self-reported lie detection). Understanding this paradox is important because decisions which rely on credibility assessment and deception detection can have serious implications (e.g., trust in others, legal issues). In two online studies, we tested whether individual differences account for variance in self-reported lie detection abilities. We assessed personality traits (Big-Six personality traits, Dark Triad), empathy, emotional intelligence, cultural values, trust level, social desirability, and belief in one’s own lie detection abilities. In both studies, mean self-reported lie detection abilities were above chance level. Then, lower out-group trust and higher social desirability levels predicted higher self-reported lie detection abilities. These results suggest that social trust and norms shape our beliefs about our own lie detection abilities.
Description
Funding Information: We thank the Swiss National Science Foundation for making this work possible (P500PS_202956, 100014_182138). Publisher Copyright: © 2023 Fernandes et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Date
2023-05-24
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Research Projects
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Keywords
Assessed abilities, Dark triad, Deception, Dirty dozen measure, Emotional intelligence, Gender-differences, Personality, Psychometric properties, Tell truths, Truth-default, SDG 5 - Gender Equality
Citation
Fernandes, M, Jonason, P K (ed.), Jonauskaite, D, Tomas, F, Laurent, E & Mohr, C 2023, 'Individual differences in self-reported lie detection abilities', PLOS ONE, vol. 18, no. 5, e0285124, pp. 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0285124