The Deceiver and the Deceived: Effects of Recollecting Prosocial Lying on Emotions and Values
Principal Author
Katelyn V. Domer
Undergraduate
Co-Author(s)
Dr. Jennifer M. Clegg & Dr. Katherine R. Warnell
Faculty Sponsor(s)
Dr. Jennifer M. Clegg & Dr. Katherine R. Warnell
Abstract
Prosocial lying–or lying to be polite–is a common behavior. Very limited research, however, has examined individuals’ recollection of telling versus being told prosocial lies. This study aimed to explore attitudes and behaviors related to recalled experiences of prosocial lying. We hypothesized that recollecting telling a prosocial lie would cause participants to value kindness more than recalling being the recipient of such a lie. Thus, participants (N = 243) were randomly assigned to two conditions: (1) participants were asked to recall a time they told a prosocial lie and (2) participants were asked to recall a time they think someone told them a prosocial lie. Afterwards, participants answered questions regarding which value was more important in relationships (kindness versus honesty) as well as their attitudes about the recalled experience (e.g., levels of relief; levels of betrayal). Our hypothesis was supported. Participants who recalled telling lies rated kindness as more important whereas those who recalled being told lies felt honesty was more important in relationships. Additionally, contrary to the idea that white lies are a kind behavior, participants had negative associations with being told such lies. These findings have implications for how individuals feel about prosocial lying and suggest that recollections of past social behavior can influence more abstract social judgements. Given the negative affect associated with being told a prosocial lie, future research should compare feelings when told such lies versus blunt truths.
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I find it interesting that depending on whether you are on the receiving end of a lie or if you are the one telling one changes what you think is more important; kindness or truthfulness.
Appreciate this work, I feel like this is something we can all relate too and become aware about.
I think that it’s so interesting how being told or telling a pro social lie changes how you, as an individual, see what value is most important, honesty or kindness. And what is also interesting is that it is most likely that the people who said that honesty is more important have probably said a little white lie or two themselves. Amazing!
Sharing this wit my friends was very interesting because I was surprise even at the answers I got when asking. Are memories of prosocial lying prone to distortion? was a question that intrigued me the most when reading the rest of the report!
I was really surprised that hey did this experiment because its a good topic that could affect people lives long term and i think its really cool that they did measure kindness and honestly.
Thank you so much for this research study! What surprised me was that more people favored honesty over kindness because it seems like more people lie on a daily basis in order to be kind to someone, rather than telling them the honest truth. I never heard of a study like this and I’m glad I came across it!
l love that they even came up with this. I think we too often like to hide the tiny little white lies we do having no idea if they are having any effects on us.
I really enjoyed this study because I didn’t know that this was an actual thing, I knew it existed, but I didn’t really know the word for it and I just thought that everyone did it and that it was normal. While reading the study, I was thinking back on my own experiences and how I’ve been in both spectrums of the deceiver and deceived, thinking back I was realizing that it really isn’t a good thing to do but everyone does it because they confuse it with kindness, and it hurts the deceived more than it helps them. I did have some concerns with the study, as someone else stated, by looking back at these memories is there any chance that they think they were deceived but they’re not really sure of it and therefore cause the results to be inaccurate. Overall, great work!
This is a very important observation of humans and their nature to respond to social circumstances differently depending on their placement within said circumstance. I think prosocial lying is a necessary and natural process for humans, and a very interesting subject to study.
Are memories of prosocial lying prone to distortion? I.e., has the accuracy of these sorts of recollections ever been examined? Very interesting work!
Prosocial lying is something that happens all around us, yet there truly is little to no research into this. This work is a step in the right direction to truly understand how action that happens constantly impacts everyone.
Thank you for this work. I think assessing the impact of prosocial lying is so important.