Are liars ethical? On the tension between benevolence and honesty

Abstract

We demonstrate that some lies are perceived to be more ethical than honest statements. Across three studies, we find that individuals who tell prosocial lies, lies told with the intention of benefitting others, are perceived to be more moral than individuals who tell the truth. In Study 1, we compare altruistic lies to selfish truths. In Study 2, we introduce a stochastic deception game to disentangle the influence of deception, outcomes, and intentions on perceptions of moral character. In Study 3, we demonstrate that moral judgments of lies are sensitive to the consequences of lying for the deceived party, but insensitive to the consequences of lying for the liar. Both honesty and benevolence are essential components of moral character. We find that when these values conflict, benevolence may be more important than honesty. More broadly, our findings suggest that the moral foundation of care may be more important than the moral foundation of justice.

Lying because we care: Compassion increases prosocial lying.

“…Adults also tell prosocial lies regularly, especially in close relationships (DePaulo & Kashy, 1998). Recent research has focused on responses to prosocial lying: Whereas selfish lies generally lead to distrust of the liar, prosocial lies that provide clear economic benefits to the target of the lie (hereafter "target") can increase trust and positive moral evaluations of the liar (Levine & Schweitzer, 2014, 2015. Yet, when the benefits of lying do not clearly outweigh those of honesty in the eyes of the target, prosocial lies can harm trust and moral judgments, and communicating benevolent intent may do little to mitigate these negative effects (Lupoli, Levine, & Greenberg, 2017).…”

Who Lies? A Meta-Analysis of the Effect of Sex, Age, and Education on Honesty

“…Previous studies have explored what makes people act dishonestly by focusing on social and moral preferences (Biziou-van-Pol, 2015;Levine & Schweitzer, 2014;Levine & Schweitzer, 2015;Shalvi & de Dreu, 2014), incentives (Dreber & Johannesson, 2008;Erat & Gneezy, 2012;Fischbacher & Föllmi-Heusi, 2013;Gneezy, 2005;Kajackaite & Gneezy, 2015;Mazar, Amir & Ariely, 2008;Sutter, 2009), the role of group-serving lies versus individual-serving lies (Cohen, Gunia, Kim-Jun & Murnighan, 2009;Conrads, Irlenbusch, Rilke & Walkowitz, 2013;Gino, Ayal & Ariely, 2013;Wiltermuth, 2011), and the role of manipulating cognitive resources (Gino, Schweitzer, Mead & Ariely, 2011;Shalvi, Eldar & Bereby-Meyer, 2012;Gunia et al, 2012;van't Veer, Stel & van Beest, 2014;Capraro, 2017). …”

Do We Really like Helpful Liars? Apparently not Everywhere

“…We think that this problem deserves further analysis. Recent findings show that people perceive prosocial lies as more ethical than telling a blunt truth (Levine and Schweitzer 2014). As Pontari and Schlenker put it: BHonesty and helpfulness often go together, and when they do, people are probably rated high on both respect and liking.…”