When is a lie acceptable? Work and private life lying acceptance depends on its beneficiary

ABSTRACT

In this article we show that when analyzing attitude towards lying in a cross-cultural setting, both the beneficiary of the lie (self vs other) and the context (private life vs. professional domain) should be considered. In a study conducted in Estonia, Ireland, Mexico, The Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and Sweden (N = 1345), in which participants evaluated stories presenting various types of lies, we found usefulness of relying on the dimensions. Results showed that in the joint sample the most acceptable were other-oriented lies concerning private life, then other-oriented lies in the professional domain, followed by egoistic lies in the professional domain; and the least acceptance was shown for egoistic lies regarding one’s private life. We found a negative correlation between acceptance of a behavior and the evaluation of its deceitfulness.

KEYWORDS:

• Cross-cultural
• egoistic lies
• lying acceptance
• other-oriented lies
• work and private life

Acknowledgements

This project was conducted thanks to research grant Preludium awarded to Katarzyna Cantarero by National Science Centre in Poland. The grant title was ‘Cross-cultural differences in the acceptance of lying in the view of the Moral Foundations Theory’, no. 2011/01/N/HS6/02211. We would like to thank Dariusz Dolinski, Hillie Aaldering, Wijnand Van Tilburg, Eric Igou, Andero Teras and other friends and colleagues that helped in reaching participants. We also thank Agata Gasiorowska and Lukasz Jochemczyk for their valuable comments on this work.

Notes

1. When we conducted the analysis treating the factors as a two (beneficiary) by two (context) solution, we obtained similar results. There were significant differences between the acceptance of the four types of lies. More specifically, there was a significant main effect of the beneficiary F(1, 1139) = 100.66; p < .001, ŋ² = .02. Other-oriented lies were accepted to a larger extent (M = 3.77, SD = 1.15) than the egoistic lies (M = 2.58, SD = 1.03). There was also a main effect of the context F(1, 1139) = 10.41; p = .001, ŋ² = .01. Lying in the private context was accepted less (M = 3.15, SD = 1.05) than in the professional domain (M = 3.20, SD = 1.12). The interaction between the beneficiary and the context was also statistically significant F(1, 1139) = 5.01; p = .025, ŋ² = .01. Comparison of the means with Bonferroni correction indicated that the difference between all the means was statistically significant (p < .001). The greatest acceptance was demonstrated for other-oriented lies concerning private life, then other-oriented lies in the professional domain, followed by egoistic lies in the professional domain, and the least acceptance was shown for egoistic lies regarding one’s private life. However, we think that both the results of the CFA analysis and the fact that egoistic lies regarding private life and professional domain merged into one factor in the Irish sample, speak in favour of treating the four types of lies as independent variables.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Katarzyna Cantarero

Katarzyna Cantarero is a Post-doc researcher in psychology at the SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Faculty in Sopot. She conducts research on social cognition of lying and on the need for meaning.

Piotr Szarota

Piotr Szarota is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences. His research interests include cross-cultural aspects of nonverbal communication and cultural patterns of emotional expression.

Eftychia Stamkou

Eftychia Stamkou is an Assistant Professor at the University of Amsterdam. Her research interests lie in the realms of culture, leadership, power, norm violations, and aesthetics.

Marisol Navas

Marisol Navas is a Professor in social psychology at the University of Almeria. She conducts research on prejudice, acculturation process and intergroup relations.

Alejandra del Carmen Dominguez Espinosa

Alejandra del Carmen Dominguez Espinosa is a Full Time Professor and Head of the Psychology Department at the Iberoamericana University in Mexico. She conducts research in cross-cultural psychology and her main interests are social desirability and well-being.