Liars
Who lies? My best guess is that everyone does. Even though my best guess is that everyone lies, it is clear that some people tell lies much more readily than others.
People who are more manipulative lie more often than people who are less manipulative.
Manipulative people tend to care about themselves, so you might also think that liars are generally people who do not care about other people. But, that's not totally true. Frequent liars can also be people who care too much about other people. What they care about, in particular, is what other people think of them. This impression-management personality type describes those always worrying about the impression they are making on other people.
'Oh, what will she think if I say that?' 'Will he think I'm a total loser if I do this?'
The impression-management personality type tell lots of lies, too. Interestingly, these kinds of people know that they lie more than other people do.
That's noteworthy, because like the citizens of Lake Wobegon, the participants in our diary studies believed that, on the average, they were above average in honesty.
The results for one other personality trait are totally obvious. That trait is responsibility, as measured by a scale by the same name that picks out people who are responsible, honest, ethical, dependable, and reliable. Responsible people were less likely to tell lies than less responsible people, especially the kinds of lies that are self-serving.
Across the board, averaging across all kinds of lies, men and women are equals in their proclivity to tell lies. When we looked more closely at different kinds of lies and different kinds of targets of lies, that's when the sex differences showed up.
Kind-hearted lies are told with the intent of making another person look better or feel better or to spare them from embarrassment or punishment or blame or from getting their feelings hurt.
Psychology Today
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