Trusting People Make Better Lie Detectors

[MrScorpio]

ScienceDaily (Aug. 13, 2010) — Trusting others may not make you necessarily a fool or a Pollyanna, according to a study in the current Social Psychological and Personality Science (published by SAGE). Instead it can be a sign that you're smart.

Researchers asked study participants to watch taped job interviews of 2nd year MBA students. Interviewees were all told to do their best to get the job. Half of the interviewees were completely truthful; the other half told at least three significant lies to appear more attractive for the job. All interviewees were guaranteed $20 for making the job interview tape, and both the liars and truth-tellers hoped to receive an additional $20 if a supposed "lie detection expert" watched the tape and believed they were telling the truth.

Several days before the participants watched the tapes, they filled out a questionnaire that measured their trust in other people, with questions such as "Most people are basically honest," and "Most people are basically good-natured and kind." They then watched the videos, and rated the truthfulness and honesty of the interviewees.

People high in trust were more accurate at detecting the liars -- the more people showed trust in others, the more able they were to distinguish a lie from the truth. The more faith in their fellow humans they had, the more they wanted to hire the honest interviewees and to avoid the lying ones. Contrary to the stereotype, people who were low in trust were more willing to hire liars and they were also less likely to be aware that they were liars.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100813090457.htm

[Brickbat]

1. This explains so much.

[leveymg]

2. Axiomatic that lying scumbag organizations are run by scumbags - FoxNews.

[arikara]

3. haha I love it!

My Mr keeps saying I'm gullible because I prefer to trust people and give them the benefit of the doubt. I am not stupid and can tell when someone is lying to me.

I emailed the article to him. Love it.

[Demeter]

5. I used to be like you

I got cured of trust before 40. My ex-husband was instrumental, but not the only one.

[Schema Thing]

4. projection?

[upi402]

6. I'm trusting, and I've learned to trust my gut

It's almost always right when acting as a BS detector, I've learned over many years.

[ClarkUSA]

7. Hmm... so this is why I knew John Edwards and Weiner were both lying liars immediately.

I always thought Edwards was a phony liar from the beginning of his Senate career and I thought Weiner's story was suspiciously fishy from his first news conference forward. Of course, I wasn't the only one.