Date of Award

2019

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Cottrell, Catherine

Area of Concentration

Psychology

Abstract

Lies are stories that are told in order to deceive their target, but as stories they must be prepared beforehand. If prepared stories can be distinguished from unprepared stories, it may be possible to distinguish certain lies from truths. In a novel study design, 30 undergraduate participants told one self-serving lie, one unprepared truth, and one prosocial lie. These stories were analyzed for evidence of preparation. The preparation effects measured were ending type and inclusion of additional details. Participants were also asked to report the amount of time spent preparing their lies. Results suggested that people spend more time preparing prosocial lies than self-serving lies, possibly because they are more cognitively difficult. The difference in ending type between self-serving lies and unprepared truths approached significance, suggesting that unprepared truth tellers are more likely than prepared liars to exhibit indefinite endings. Implications are discussed.

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