Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 5, 2026
07:36
An Experimental Analysis of Children's Ability to Provide a False Report about a Crime
Published on: May 3, 2016
Too Good to Be True: Comparing Self-Reported Lying Habits Among Credible and Non-Credible Responders
Natacha Henriquez1, Irena Bošković1,2, Rianne Kok1
1Department of Psychology, Education & Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Scandinavian Journal of Psychology
|July 30, 2026
Summary
Extreme positive response bias, or supernormality, significantly impacts self-reported lying behavior. Individuals exhibiting supernormality reported less lying, indicating potential underestimation in sensitive behavior research.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Behavioral Science
Background:
- Self-report is a common research method for behavior assessment.
- Self-report data can be biased, especially for socially undesirable behaviors like dishonesty.
- Positive response bias, or "faking good," can lead to inaccurate self-assessments.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the influence of supernormality, an extreme positive response bias, on self-reported lying behavior.
- To determine if individuals with supernormality exhibit different lying patterns compared to credible individuals.
- To assess the impact of extreme response bias on the validity of self-report measures for sensitive behaviors.
Main Methods:
- A quantitative study involving 777 participants completing an online survey.
- Assessment of supernormality using the Supernormality Scale-Revised (SS-R).
- Categorization of participants into "supernormal" and "credible" groups based on SS-R scores.
- Examination of group differences in various dimensions of lying behavior.
Main Results:
- The supernormal group reported significantly lower lying frequency than the credible group.
- Supernormal individuals reported greater unwillingness to lie due to internal factors (higher negativity).
- The supernormal group exhibited lower contextuality, relational lying, and antisocial lying, indicating a systematic response bias.
Conclusions:
- Extreme positive response bias (supernormality) systematically influences self-reported lying.
- Supernormality can lead to the underestimation of socially undesirable behaviors in self-report research.
- Researchers must account for response biases to ensure the accuracy of findings on sensitive behaviors.
Related Concept Videos
01:14Understanding Deception
Deception is a pervasive aspect of human communication. Empirical studies have shown that most individuals engage in some form of deceit on a daily basis, with approximately 20% of social exchanges involving deceptive elements. Lying follows a developmental trajectory, peaking during adolescence and declining with age, possibly due to the maturation of cognitive control and social accountability.Cognitive and Social Factors in Deception DetectionDespite its prevalence, accurately detecting...
02:05Self-Presentation: Self-Monitoring and Self-Handicapping
People can go to great lengths to protect their self-image and present themselves in ways that they want others to see them. Sociologist Erving Goffman presented the idea that a person is like an actor on a stage. Calling his theory dramaturgy, Goffman believed that we use “impression management” to present ourselves to others as we hope to be perceived. Each situation is a new scene, and individuals perform different roles depending on who is present (Goffman, 1959). Think about the way you...
01:15Theory of Attribution I: Correspondent Inference Theory
Correspondent inference theory, proposed by Jones and Davis in 1965, seeks to explain how individuals infer stable personality traits from observed behaviors. It suggests that people attribute actions to underlying dispositions rather than external circumstances, particularly when the behavior appears intentional and socially significant.Voluntary Behavior and Dispositional AttributionAccording to this theory, individuals are more likely to attribute behavior to personal traits when it appears...
01:22Self-Report Tests of Personality
Self-report inventories are objective personality assessments that use multiple-choice items or numbered scales, typically ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). They are often called Likert scales after Rensis Likert. These inventories are widely used due to their ease of administration and cost-effectiveness. One of the most prominent examples is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), initially developed in the 1940s to assess abnormal personality traits.
03:00Self-Evaluation: Self-Enhancement and Self-Verification
Social psychologists have documented that feeling good about ourselves and maintaining positive self-esteem is a powerful motivator of human behavior (Tavris & Aronson, 2008). In the United States, members of the predominant culture typically think very highly of themselves and view themselves as good people who are above average on many desirable traits (Ehrlinger, Gilovich, & Ross, 2005). Often, our behavior, attitudes, and beliefs are affected when we experience a threat to our...
02:45Self-Discrepancy Theory
One influential perspective on what motivates people's behavior is detailed in Tory Higgin's self-discrepancy theory (Higgins, 1987). He proposed that people hold disagreeing internal representations of themselves that lead to different emotional states.