Abstract
Does opportunity make the thief or are people dispositionally prone to deceive? The interaction between personality and the circumstances surrounding deception is crucial to understand what promotes dishonesty in our society. Due to its inherent spontaneity and sociality, deceptive behaviour may be hardly reproducible in experimental settings. We developed a novel paradigm in the form of an interactive game where participants can choose whether to lie to another person in situations of loss vs. gain, and of no-reputation-risk vs. reputation-risk linked to the disclosure of their deceptive behaviour to others. Thus, our ecological paradigm allowed subjects to spontaneously decide when to lie and face the challenge of deceiving others. In the case of loss, participants lied to reverse the outcome in their favour. Deception was lower in the reputation-risk condition where personality traits concerning social interactions also played an important role. The results suggest that deception is definitely promoted by unfavourable events, and that maintaining one's own reputation encourages honesty, particularly in socially inclined individuals.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e19465 |
| Journal | PLoS One |
| Volume | 6 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2011 |
Fingerprint
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Agricultural and Biological Sciences(all)
- Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all)
- Medicine(all)
Cite this
Situational and dispositional determinants of intentional deceiving. / Panasiti, Maria Serena; Pavone, Enea Francesco; Merla, Arcangelo; Aglioti, Salvatore Maria.
In: PLoS One, Vol. 6, No. 4, e19465, 2011.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Situational and dispositional determinants of intentional deceiving
AU - Panasiti, Maria Serena
AU - Pavone, Enea Francesco
AU - Merla, Arcangelo
AU - Aglioti, Salvatore Maria
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - Does opportunity make the thief or are people dispositionally prone to deceive? The interaction between personality and the circumstances surrounding deception is crucial to understand what promotes dishonesty in our society. Due to its inherent spontaneity and sociality, deceptive behaviour may be hardly reproducible in experimental settings. We developed a novel paradigm in the form of an interactive game where participants can choose whether to lie to another person in situations of loss vs. gain, and of no-reputation-risk vs. reputation-risk linked to the disclosure of their deceptive behaviour to others. Thus, our ecological paradigm allowed subjects to spontaneously decide when to lie and face the challenge of deceiving others. In the case of loss, participants lied to reverse the outcome in their favour. Deception was lower in the reputation-risk condition where personality traits concerning social interactions also played an important role. The results suggest that deception is definitely promoted by unfavourable events, and that maintaining one's own reputation encourages honesty, particularly in socially inclined individuals.
AB - Does opportunity make the thief or are people dispositionally prone to deceive? The interaction between personality and the circumstances surrounding deception is crucial to understand what promotes dishonesty in our society. Due to its inherent spontaneity and sociality, deceptive behaviour may be hardly reproducible in experimental settings. We developed a novel paradigm in the form of an interactive game where participants can choose whether to lie to another person in situations of loss vs. gain, and of no-reputation-risk vs. reputation-risk linked to the disclosure of their deceptive behaviour to others. Thus, our ecological paradigm allowed subjects to spontaneously decide when to lie and face the challenge of deceiving others. In the case of loss, participants lied to reverse the outcome in their favour. Deception was lower in the reputation-risk condition where personality traits concerning social interactions also played an important role. The results suggest that deception is definitely promoted by unfavourable events, and that maintaining one's own reputation encourages honesty, particularly in socially inclined individuals.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79955773688&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=79955773688&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0019465
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0019465
M3 - Article
C2 - 21559381
AN - SCOPUS:79955773688
VL - 6
JO - PLoS One
JF - PLoS One
SN - 1932-6203
IS - 4
M1 - e19465
ER -