Why do People not Lie More? Truth is (Wrongly) Believed to be More Persuasive

• 成果类型: Article; Early Access
• 署名作者: Gneezy, Uri; Serra-Garcia, Marta
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California San Diego; Leibniz Association; Ifo Institut
• 刊物名称: ECONOMIC JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0013-0133
• DOI: 10.1093/ej/ueaf128
• 发表日期: 2026
• 关键词: Deception; INFORMATION; ability

摘要

Is truth believed to be more persuasive than falsehood? This paper explores this question using a series of experiments. First, a survey experiment reveals that participants consistently believe that the persuasive power of truthful messages exceeds that of lies. Second, two laboratory experiments, in which senders record truthful and false video messages about news events, show that senders mistakenly believe that their truthful messages will be more believable. Even when incentivised to lie, most senders choose to tell the truth-if tasked with persuading receivers. If not, however, most senders follow the incentives and lie.