A series of four studies published in the British Journal of Social Psychology reported that lying decreases self-esteem and increases negative emotion, irrespective of whether the lie benefits the self or others.
Despite being a moral taboo and having the potential to negatively impact one’s image and relationships, lying is a fairly common phenomenon. Most lies go undetected; in fact, the ability to successfully distinguish between falsehoods and truths hovers just above chance. In this work, Sanne Preuter and colleagues look at the impact of lying on the liar’s self-esteem and emotions. Is it possible that lying has a psychological cost, even if undetected?
The researchers focus on two types of lies, including self-centered lies which are shared for personal gain or protection, and other-oriented lies with the goal of protecting another’s feelings.
Study 1 used a 2×2 between-subjects design, focusing on behavior (lying vs. truth-telling) and type of dilemma (self-centered vs. other oriented). Participants were presented with one of eight scenarios that simulated common life dilemmas. They were tasked with recalling and reporting how they had responded to a similar real life-situation (i.e., had lied, had told the truth, have never been in such a situation).
The following are examples of self-centered and other-oriented dilemmas, respectively: “You are at a job interview. You are being asked if you have experience in a relevant aspect of the job, which you haven’t” or “Your friend is very happy about her new dress. You don’t like it.” Participants then completed measures of self-esteem, negative emotion, and perceived acceptability of lying.
Participants who opted to lie in the presented situations reported lower self-esteem and more negative emotion compared to those who told the truth. These results were consistent across both self-centered and other-oriented dilemmas.
Study 2 involved 192 participants using a between-subjects design similar to Study 1. In this case, participants were asked to describe past situations in which they lied or told the truth, either for self-benefit or to benefit others. State self-esteem was measured with three items, and emotion was measured by asking participants the extent to which they experienced positive or negative emotion in relation to their described situation. Similar to Study 1, participants who recalled lying situations reported lower self-esteem and less positive emotion compared to those who recalled having told the truth.
In Study 3, 285 participants were asked to track their lying behavior for one day and to report their self-esteem (e.g., “I was satisfied with myself”) and affect (e.g., anger, shame, pride, happiness), with the goal of minimizing memory bias by having participants report their experience on the day of the study. In line with the prior studies, participants who lied on the day of the study reported lower self-esteem and experienced more negative emotion compared to those who did not lie, irrespective of the type of lie told.
Study 4 recruited 100 individuals who participated in a 5-day diary study. On each day, they reported their lying behavior, self-esteem, and emotions. Adopting a within-subjects design allowed the researchers to track changes in self-esteem relative to lying behavior over multiple days. Does lying decrease self-esteem over time, and can self-esteem levels on a given day predict lying behavior on subsequent days? Indeed, participants who lied experienced a reduction in self-esteem. However, self-esteem levels on one day did not predict lying behavior on the following day.
Across four studies with varying methodologies, Preuter and colleagues found that both self-centered and other-oriented lies decreased self-esteem and increased negative emotion in the liar, suggesting that lying comes with a psychological cost.
The paper, “The costs of lying: Consequences of telling lies on liar’s self-esteem and affect”, was authored by Sanne Preuter, Bastian Jaeger, and Mariëlle Stel.