Serious Lies

In a pair of studies, college students and community members told autobiographical narratives about the most serious lie they ever told or the most serious lie that was ever told to them. Most serious lies were told by or to participants' closest relationship partners. Participants reported tel...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inBasic and applied social psychology Vol. 26; no. 2-3; pp. 147 - 167
Main Authors DePaulo, Bella M., Ansfield, Matthew E., Kirkendol, Susan E., Boden, Joseph M.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Philadelphia, PA Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc 01.09.2004
Taylor & Francis
Psychology Press
Subjects
Biological and medical sciences
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Guilt
Lies
Lying
Motivation
Personality. Affectivity
Psychological aspects
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Social psychology
Human
Lying
Motivation
Self presentation
Daily living
Autobiographical memory
Sex
Cognition
Emotion emotionality
Personality
Cognitive bias
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Summary:In a pair of studies, college students and community members told autobiographical narratives about the most serious lie they ever told or the most serious lie that was ever told to them. Most serious lies were told by or to participants' closest relationship partners. Participants reported telling their serious lies to get what they wanted or to do what they felt they were entitled to do, to avoid punishment, to protect themselves from confrontation, to appear to be the type of person they wished they were, to protect others, and to hurt others. The degree to which the liars and targets felt distressed about the lies differed significantly across these 7 different types of lies. Systematic variations in the kinds of serious lies described by different subgroups of participants suggest that serious lies may be indicative of the life tasks that are most significant to those groups.
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ISSN:0197-3533
1532-4834
DOI:10.1080/01973533.2004.9646402