People tend to self-assess their ability to convincingly tell the truth higher than their ability to lie convincingly; this poor lie-telling ability rating is based on the desire to sustain a positive self-image

Elaad E. (2019) Self-Assessed Lie- and Truth-Telling Abilities: Demographic, Personality, and Behavioral Correlates. In: Docan-Morgan T. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Deceptive Communication. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. April 30 2019. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-96334-1_23

Abstract: This chapter reviews demographic, personality, and behavioral correlates of self-assessed lie- and truth-telling abilities. People tend to self-assess their ability to convincingly tell the truth higher than their ability to lie convincingly. The high truth-telling ability assessment rests on the belief that truth-telling is a simple matter of “telling it like it is” and aligns with the general human assumption that most communications are truthful. In this context, it is interesting to study the state of mind of people who tend to rate their ability to convince when telling the truth lower than average. The relatively poor lie-telling ability rating is based on the desire to sustain a positive self-image. Thus, if one is not a skilled lie-teller, they may believe that they are an honest person. Therefore, attention should be directed to people who overrate their lie-telling ability. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Keywords: Self-assessments Truth-telling ability Lie-telling ability Personality Biases Meta-analysis