Study Says Your Desired Appearance of Honesty May Lead You to Lie
Fascinating new research suggests in an effort to look honest, people will go as far as lying -- seriously, not fake news -- exhibiting efforts to avoid appearing dishonest that may actually lead to lying. It's an eminence front, it's an eminence front, it's a put on.
The leader of this new study, Dr. Shoham Choshen-Hillel explains, "Many people care greatly about their reputation and how they will be judged by others, and a concern about appearing honest may outweigh our desire to actually be honest, even in situations where it will cost us money to lie."
Ultimately, the study found that when people got very favorable outcomes they anticipated other people's suspicious reactions, and then chose to lie in order to appear honest rather then telling the truth only to end up looking like a "selfish liar."
" Choshen-Hillel adds, "I think most people will recognize a time in their lives when they were motivated to tell a lie to appear honest."
Do you think that is true? Can you think of a situation in which you've lied in order to seem more honest? How about downplaying your success in order to make yourself look more relatable to someone else?
I will admit, I have "played dumb" on more than one occasion just so someone else's feelings would be spared. Ah, the little white lies we desperately justify.