Truth-Telling or Lies: Both Are Contagious

Behavioral ethics researchers indicate that while 83% of people believe they shouldn’t lie, 21% of people will lie anyway if it is in their interest to do so. These studies present new insights for people seeking honest governance, the newest being that what liars believe others do has a big impact on whether or not they lie, and on the size of their lies.

Bicchieri, Xiao, Dimant, and Sonderegger research what influences dishonest behavior and what motivates honest behavior in the 21% of public officials who lie. Their studies from 2006 to 2023, "Do the Right Thing: But Only if Others Do So," and "It’s not a lie if you believe the norm does not apply: Conditional norm-following and belief distortion," consider how people’s beliefs about ‘‘what ought to be’’ affect truth-telling. They look at the disconnect contained in social norms for honesty that conflicts with self-interested motives and personal agendas.

Bicchieri et al. identify two types of individuals: those who see things in black and white—whose beliefs regarding their own behavior motivate them not to lie, or whose beliefs motivate them to always lie in their own interest, and those in the gray area, who, depending on circumstances may lie when it’s in their interest to lie. These are the “conditional truth tellers” who may believe that lying is wrong but will self-deceive to justify a lie if the payoff is great enough and/or the consequences low enough.

“Everybody Does It”

The researchers find that the biggest driver of decisions to lie is what the individual believes others would do in the same situation. Simply put, they do as they believe others do, not as they or others think they should do. The research shows that if conditional truth-tellers believe that most people lie and that few people will condemn them, they will lie when it benefits them. Thus, when widespread bribery and kickbacks exist, believing most people are corrupt drives conditional truth-tellers to conform to corrupt behavior even if they believe most people disapprove of such behavior.

Self-Serving Belief Distortion: The Lies We Tell Ourselves

According to the research, people do not distort their beliefs indiscriminately. They distort their beliefs strategically only when they must do so to convince themselves that a norm does not apply to a situation or is not presently followed to justify lying. The idioms “actions speak louder than words” and “everybody is doing it” shed light on what influences people who lie in their self-interest. When in doubt about what other people do in the same situation or whether they approve, conditional norm followers err on the side of self-serving by giving more weight to the story that serves their material benefit.

When it is the case that most people comply with a norm, it is usually also the case that people’s expectations of what people will do are consistent with what others think they ought to do, making it more likely that people will conform to the norm. Bicchieri finds that the belief that “the majority of individuals do not lie” significantly obstructs the ability to lie. When conditional truth-tellers believe others in their position would tell the truth, and many will condemn them, they are unlikely to lie, reducing the incidence of self-serving lies by nearly 50%. It may also reduce the “size” of the lies.

Sticky Beliefs

According to the researchers, once people form a belief, it tends to stick even when it would be profitable to change it. Study participants who had prior unbiased beliefs about what people would do in their situation are less likely to lie. This is known as “belief stickiness.” Initial individual beliefs about how most people would behave are harder to distort in a self-serving way, which in turn inhibits deviant behavior.

Although conditional truth-tellers are most powerfully influenced by their beliefs about what others do in the same situation, people’s expectations about what “should be done” may also influence whether or not they lie. The study cites recent contributions to the “lying” literature, showing that reputation and image concerns play an important role in explaining lying behavior. The desire to appear honest (or to signal high lying costs) explains the fact that when lies come in different “sizes,” some liars choose “smaller” lies.

According to Bicchieri, belief stickiness is why people often follow social norms such as reciprocity or fairness, even when it’s not in their immediate self-interest to do so. Focusing people on an existing norm moves people toward compliance with the norm, and drawing attention to moral standards increases ethical behavior and reduces dishonest behavior.

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For some individuals, further inducements, such as the threat of sanctions by others, are required to keep them honest. In the past, it has been argued that punishment and emotions are two key factors in norm compliance. Absent formal sanctions and negative emotions such as shame and guilt are also effective enforcers of social norms. Even awareness of the cost of punishing norm violators sometimes brings about cooperation and fairness.

In the study, participants were more likely to behave pro-socially when they were asked to think about either what honest people in the same situation would do or what others think one should do. Furthermore, they gave more generously when given information about others’ generous behavior. They are also more likely to follow a norm if they share the same opinions as those proposing the norm.

The obvious message for voters who wish to be served by honest elected representatives is to elect people who are known to always tell the truth because a norm for honesty is more likely to be followed, and failure to do so has expensive consequences. Honest colleagues and discussion of ethics and good behavior make it more difficult for conditional truth-tellers to justify self-serving behavior. When liars are surrounded by those who tell the truth, the incidence of lying is cut in half. The alternative is to be at the mercy of those who always lie and those who are more likely to lie because they are in the presence of liars.