Deception and False Expectations

Abstract

Deception is a common bargaining tactic that has also often been described as a form of unethical behavior. One reason why deception could be considered unethical is that it may evoke false expectations in others. In the current article we investigated false expectations that may be raised by using deception in an ultimatum bargaining setting. In particular, we investigated whether lying about your own outcomes is evaluated differently than lying about the outcomes of another party. In two experiments, we demonstrated that people judge a lying opponent less harshly when he or she lied about his own outcomes instead of the outcomes of another party. In addition, in our third experiment we demonstrate that people prefer are more likely to lie about their own outcomes than about those of another party.