Examining the Relationship Between

Dark Triad Traits with Propensity to

Lie and Ease of Lying in Various
Contexts

Payton McPhee, Jennifer McArthur, and Dr. Marguerite Ternes

CFPVC 2023
 Lying Behaviours
● People lie on average 2-3 times per day (DePaulo et al., 1996)
● Children as young as 42 months have been shown to take part in strategic lying
(Evans & Lee, 2013)
● Why do we lie?
○ Various motivations for lying
○ Self-centered vs other centered
○ Dark Triad Traits have consistently been linked to self-centered lying

CFPVC 2023
 Research on Lying Behaviours
● Generally retrospective
● Does not illustrate entire picture
○ Spidel et al. (2011)- only psychopathy
○ Jonason et al. (2014) - only self-centered lying motivations
○ McLeod and Genereux (2008) – not retrospective, but only Machiavellianism, and did not include
vindictive lies
● Need for more research

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 Purpose of Study
• Examine relationship between Dark Triad traits,
propensity to lie, and ease of lying
• Examine future willingness to lie rather than retrospective
accounts of lying

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 Hypotheses
● Expect positive associations between Dark Triad Traits and propensity to lie for self-centered lying and
ease of lying

● Do not expect relationship between Dark Triad Traits and pro-social lying

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 Methodology
Participants
● 272 University Students (82.4% female, 17.6% male)
● Recruited through psychology participant pool
● Age range 18-29 (M = 21.14, SD = 3.52)

Procedure
● Participants read 20 brief vignettes
● Completed Short Dark Triad (SD3)
● Answered questions regarding ease of lying

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 Results: Propensity to Lie
Psychopathy
● Greater propensity to lie for self-gain and vindictive motivations

Narcissism
● Greater propensity to lie for conflict avoidance

Machiavellianism
● Greater propensity to lie to avoid conflict and for self-gain

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 Results: Ease of Lying
Psychopathy
● Greater ease of lying over the phone

Narcissism
● Greater ease of lying face-to-face

Machiavellianism
● Greater ease of lying through every communication method other than
over the phone

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Strengths Limitations

● Gives insight to future lying

● Sample characteristics
behaviors
● Generalizability
● Adds to current literature
● Self-report
● Creates full picture of Dark
Triad relationship with
prospective lying behaviors

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Conclusions

● Strong relationship between Dark Triad traits and lying behaviors

● No Dark Triad traits were shown to be associated with altruistic lying or lying for social
acceptance.

● Machiavellianism shown to find lying easy in most communication methods

● Narcissism only Dark Triad trait to indicate propensity to lie for only pro-social motivation

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 Questions?
Please email payton.mcphee@smu.ca for further information

CFPVC 2023