Intergroup bias in dishonesty: In-group favouritism, out-group hostility, or both?

Abstract

Clear-cut lying for personal gain is widely considered immoral. But does it matter whom one is lying to? As individual decisions naturally occur in social context, acceptability of dishonesty may depend on the group identity of the interaction partner -- posing a serious challenge for intergroup cooperation and societal polarization. Providing an economic incentive to lie without detection risk, we will examine the following: (1) Are people more likely to behave dishonestly toward their out-groups than in-groups? (2) Is this intergroup bias in dishonesty driven by in-group favouritism, out-group hostility, or both? Experiment 1 (N=2100) will test these hypotheses using artificial groups in a modified minimal-groups design. Experiment 2 (N=2100) will use natural groups, recruiting Trump and Biden voters from the 2020 US Presidential election. Compared to unclassified recipients, more (less) prevalent dishonesty toward out-group (in-group) members will be interpreted as support for out-group hostility (in-group favouritism) as primary mechanism.