The Truth-Default is Ubiquitous, but Some People Experience It More than Others

Truth-default theory posits that most people are normatively honest and are believed by others. Do people think that others consider them honest? This paper explores how social perceptions of deception align with the truth-default. Using data from the All of Us dataset (N = 116,914 total respondents), we observed that most people feel trusted. While the predicted long-tail distribution was universal across subsamples, people who self-identified as male, are minorities in the US, had less education, and had less income were less likely to feel trusted by others. Connections to and implications for truth-default theory are discussed.