Do Groups Lie More than Individuals? Honesty and Deception as a Function of Strategic Self-Interest

Cohen, Taya R.; Gunia, Brian; Kim-Jun, Sun Young; Murnighan, J. Keith

Do Groups Lie More than Individuals? Honesty and Deception as a Function of Strategic Self-Interest

Cohen, T. R., Gunia, B. C., Kim-Jun, S. Y., & Murnighan, J. K. (2009). Do groups lie more than individuals? Honesty & deception as a function of strategic self-interest. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45, 1321-1324. doi: 10.1016/j.jesp.2009.08.007

17 Pages Posted: 25 Jun 2014 Last revised: 26 Jun 2014

See all articles by Taya R. Cohen

Taya R. Cohen

Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School of Business

Brian Gunia

Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management

Sun Young Kim-Jun

Northwestern University

J. Keith Murnighan

Northwestern University, Harold H. Hines Jr. Distinguished Professor of Risk Management (deceased)

Date Written: 2009

Abstract

An experiment tested whether groups lie more than individuals. Groups lied more than individuals when deception was guaranteed to maximize economic outcomes, but lied relatively less than individuals when honesty could be used strategically. These results suggest that groups are more strategic than individuals in that they will adopt whatever course of action best serves their economic interest.

Keywords: deception; honesty; groups; interindividual-intergroup discontinuity; ethics; morality

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Cohen, Taya R. and Gunia, Brian and Kim-Jun, Sun Young and Murnighan, John Keith, Do Groups Lie More than Individuals? Honesty and Deception as a Function of Strategic Self-Interest (2009). Cohen, T. R., Gunia, B. C., Kim-Jun, S. Y., & Murnighan, J. K. (2009). Do groups lie more than individuals? Honesty & deception as a function of strategic self-interest. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45, 1321-1324. doi: 10.1016/j.jesp.2009.08.007, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2458549