Examining the acceptability and likelihood of self-centered and other-centered lying using the HEXACO

Abstract

Although personality traits have been widely shown to play a role in deceptive lying, the boundary conditions of lying remains unclear. The current study investigated the role of the six HEXACO dimensions on the perceived acceptability and likelihood of lying across five motivations: self-gain, vindictiveness, conflict avoidance, social acceptability, and altruistic. A sample of 282 Canadian university students read 20 brief scenarios describing a character engaging in lying for self-oriented (i.e., self-gain, vindictive, conflict avoidance, and social acceptability) and other-oriented (i.e., altruistic) reasons. Participants were asked to rate how acceptable the lie was, and the likelihood they would lie in a similar situation, as well as completing the 100-item HEXACO. While findings indicate that the HEXACO informs attitudes and propensities towards lying, its influence is not uniform across all lying behaviour. Honesty-humility was negatively associated with the acceptance of and likelihood of lying for any self-oriented motivation but was not associated with the acceptance of and likelihood of lying to benefit another person. The remaining HEXACO dimensions were more delimited in their influence over lying. Further, findings suggest that reasons for lying cannot easily be dichotomized into self-centered versus other-centered motivations.