09.03.2023 Neue Publikation im Journal of Personality

Cheating to benefit others? On the relation between Honesty-Humility and prosocial lies.

Autor:innen:
Thielmann, I., Hilbig, B. E., Klein, S. A., Seidl, A., & Heck, D. W.

Abstract:

Objective: Among basic personality traits, Honesty-Humility yields the most consistent, negative link with dishonest behavior. The theoretical conceptualization of Honesty-Humility, however, suggests a potential boundary condition of this relation, namely, when lying is prosocial. We therefore tested the hypothesis that the association between Honesty-Humility and dishonesty weakens once lying benefits someone else, particularly so if this other is needy.

Methods: In two online studies (Study 1: N = 775 in Germany; Study 2: N = 737 in the UK, preregistered), we measured self-reported Honesty-Humility and dishonest behavior in incentivized cheating paradigms in which the beneficiary of participants’ dishonesty was either the participants themselves, a “non-needy” other (e.g., another participant), or a “needy” other (e.g., a charity).

Results:  We found support for the robustness of the negative association between Honesty-Humility and dishonesty, even if lying was prosocial.

Conclusion: Individuals high in Honesty-Humility largely prioritize honesty, even if there is a strong moral imperative to lie; those low in Honesty-Humility, by contrast, tend to lie habitually and thus even if they themselves do not directly profit monetarily. This suggests that (un)truthfulness may be an absolute rather than a relative aspect of Honesty-Humility, although further systematic tests of this proposition are needed.

Thielmann, I., Hilbig, B. E., Klein, S. A., Seidl, A., & Heck, D. W. (in press). Cheating to benefit others? On the relation between Honesty-Humility and prosocial lies. Journal of Personality.