What Do Your Lies Say About Your Personality?

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If you believe that people lie frequently, you are right. We often find ourselves wondering why people are lying to us and sometimes we even wonder why we lie.

In a recent research study conducted by McArthur et al. (2022), we learn both about the motivation for lying and the personality correlates associated with specific types of lies. The study participants were 157 individuals with a mean age of 40 who completed questionnaires about lies that they had told and also provided the motivation for that lie. Additionally, participants completed a personality inventory.

The 11 motivations for lying included:

• Avoiding negative evaluation
• Avoiding punishment
• To heighten self-presentation
• To obtain a reward
• Compulsive lies
• Carelessness
• Delight in duping
• Secretive lies
• Protective lies
• Other-oriented motivations (prosocial)
• To protect others (altruistic)

The findings of this study may surprise you, but it will help clarify how lying is associated with many different personality traits, as well as motivations. Lying cannot be predicted by a single motivation or personality style. Lying is associated with both good and less-than-good motivations, and certain lies are associated with different personality characteristics.

Before you drop that friend, partner, etc. for lying, please read on. I will share some of the more interesting results. You may also gain insight into the reasons for your own lies.

The findings were complicated and very enlightening. Most participants (77 percent) reported lying less than three times per week, while the remaining 23 percent reported lying 3-to-7 times per week. Keep in mind that this study was based on self-reporting, so these numbers may not be completely accurate.

Less Likely to Lie

Those who were higher on honesty-humility were less likely to lie in general. Those high in conscientiousness were also less likely to lie. Individuals higher in emotionality (emotionally sensitive and anxious) tended to engage in lying to avoid awkward or negative situations. They were also more likely to lie to be altruistic, which is to protect others from harm or to make them feel better. Consider the scenario in which your friend didn't tell you that you weren't invited to a party. She may have been trying to protect you.

More Likely to Lie

Individuals who scored lower in conscientiousness were more likely to lie for self-gain. Those who scored high on extraversion were more likely to tell self-centered lies, which they believed would help create a more positive impression. They were less likely to tell lies to attempt to enhance the well-being of others.

These more impulsive individuals were also more likely to lie compulsively, as well as for the pleasure and excitement of deceiving others. This is referred to as "duping delight." Unlike extroverted, agreeable individuals were less likely to lie compulsively or for impression management.

We learn from this study that lying is common for many different reasons. Some may lie to hurt others, while others may lie to protect themselves and their reputation. Yet others may lie to protect others. Keep this in mind before judging others based on the lies they tell.