title: Good Liars Are Neither 'Dark' Nor Self-Deceptive.
abstract: Deception is a central component of the personality 'Dark Triad' (Machiavellianism, Psychopathy and Narcissism). However, whether individuals exhibiting high scores on Dark Triad measures have a heightened deceptive ability has received little experimental attention. The present study tested whether the ability to lie effectively, and to detect lies told by others, was related to Dark Triad, Lie Acceptability, or Self-Deceptive measures of personality using an interactive group-based deception task. At a group level, lie detection accuracy was correlated with the ability to deceive others-replicating previous work. No evidence was found to suggest that Dark Triad traits confer any advantage either to deceive others, or to detect deception in others. Participants who considered lying to be more acceptable were more skilled at lying, while self-deceptive individuals were generally less credible and less confident when lying. Results are interpreted within a framework in which repeated practice results in enhanced deceptive ability.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London, WC1E 7HX, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Gordon R T
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Wright
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, Plymouth University, Drake Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AA, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Christopher J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Berry
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Surrey, Guildford, GU2 7XH, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Catmur
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Queens Square, London, WC1N 3AR, United Kingdom; MRC Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, London, SE5 8AF, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Geoffrey
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bird
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D008192:Deception; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008257:Machiavellianism; D008297:Male; D009289:Narcissism; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires