Telling Lies: Type, Prevalence, and Gender Differences

in a Turkish Population Emrah Akçay

Anadolu University

IntroductionLying and deception is a topic which is

broadly studied and discussed by different scientific disciplines. Lying trends of youngsters and adults, lying frequencies, deception detection of different groups, deception detection rates, and lie detection methods are some of the problem areas which are discussed.

Extremities of lying in any demographic group is not one of these fields of study. In this internet based survey, limits of lying were investigated. Some definitive hypothetic questions were asked to the participants about the specific circumstances in which they would lie. The aim was to learn how frequently they are used to lying –which was investigated through different previous researchers --what kind of lies they deliver, and on which occasions they lie: if they likely to lie to a deadly ill person, if they likely to lie a stranger, if they likely to lie in a court, if they likely to lie order to save a marriage, if they likely to lie a boss, spouse, if they likely to lie gain a sexual benefit, about politics, etc..

Aim

By having the answers of these questions, it was aimed to learn on which occasions people are biased to lie, if they have any restrictions on how much further they would lie, and how does it differ between sexes.

MethodIn this internet based study, three

demographic groups were targeted, and 23 evaluating questions were asked. In 910 participants, 893 valid participants through their answers were selected. Through these Likert scale questions, different imaginary situations were described in order to evaluate in which situations and up to which extremities participants are biased to lie. Results were gathered online by an internet based survey programme.

Chi-square tests and independent sample t-tests were used to evaluate the results statistically.

ResultsA chi-square test of independence was

performed to examine the relation between sex and lying in daily life. The relation between these variables was significant, 2 (1, N = 893) = 4.659, p <.05. Women were likely to lie in daily life than were men.

According to the independent t-test results:

Men admitted lying more than women to a total stranger to praise themselves (for women, M=1.81, SD=1.09; for men, M=2.28, SD=1.37), p=.001.

Men admitted lying more than women in order to save a friend’s relation/marriage (for women, M=2.77, SD=1.36; for men, M=3.58, SD=1.34), p=.001.

Decepticon: International Conference on Deceptive BehaviorCambridge, England, Aug. 24-26

Men admitted lying more than women to their spouse/partner about their hair or clothes (for women, M=1.97, SD=1.11; for men, M=2.58, SD=1.38), p=.001.

Men admitted lying more than women in order to get a chance at a sexual affair (for women, M=1.54, SD=1.05; for men, M=2.60, SD=1.53), p=.001.

Women believed that men lie more frequently than women (for women, M=3.48, SD=1.29; for men, M=2.77, SD=1.26), p=.001.

DiscussionA large number of participants responded to the survey and the results were highly reasonable..

Although women admitted lying more than men, through the described events men were biased to lie more than women in some circumstances.

This survey shows that men are more daring to lie; they can lie and feel more comfortable while lying than women.

This survey shows that men are more daring to lie; they can lie and feel more comfortable while lying than women. Consequently women and men lie on different issues, and men’s limit of lying is much broader than women.

This study was supported by Anadolu University Scientific

Research Commission under the grant no: 1502E052