Why People Lie to Benefit Their Own Group

Issue 186: People are willing to cheat if it benefits their group — even when they gain nothing themselves (plus a recipe for psychology halloween treats!)

People will lie more if it helps a group or a team they are connected to, even with no benefits to them personally. “In short, we tend to lie more to benefit someone like us, than lie to harm someone not like us,” says Jareef Bin Martuza.

Jareef is a postdoc at the Department of Strategy and Management. Together with Jay Van Bavel from New York University and professors Helge Torbjørnsen and Hallgeir Sjåstad (Department of Strategy and Management), they have a new paper on group identities and dishonest behavior.

The researchers tested whether the tendency to behave dishonestly is influenced by the group identity of either the victim or the beneficiary of the cheating. This was studied in three experiments with more than 5,230 Americans in total, and with real money.

Is there a difference if the victim of your cheating is part of our “in-group” or is in the “out-group”?

Surprisingly not. For purely selfish dishonesty, people lied equally regardless of whether it came at a cost to an in-gr…