According to a study, writes a scientific journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (PSPB), in a series of 3 tests, subjects rated the overall attractiveness of people who were honest in some cases and lying in others. Perceivers also had to say how open and pleasant they found the presented personalities to be.
It is noted that the volunteers were shown videos in which other participants in the experiment answered questions about the fictitious theft of $100 from the laboratory. According to the terms of the task, some of the respondents were designated as “guilty” of stealing money, while others were told that they were not involved in the imaginary crime. However, all volunteers had to convince the conditional investigator that they took other people’s funds.
The results showed that viewers were more attracted to people who told the truth compared to those who had to lie. This effect was strongest among male observers, who were more attracted to honest women. In the opposite situation, the reaction was slightly weaker, but the general trend remained – women were more attracted to truthful men compared to deceivers.
Meanwhile, in another test, volunteers had to rate the attractiveness of people in the same situation, but with the difference that they did not know which of them was telling the truth and which was lying. It turned out that being honest made women more attractive to men, but the men themselves were considered equally attractive regardless of whether they lied or not.
The researchers concluded that even when participants were unaware of the possibility that some individuals would lie, ratings of attractiveness distinguished liars from those who told the truth.
