Seeing through crocodile tears? Sex-specific associations between the Dark Triad traits and lie detection accuracy

• Published in: Personality and individual differences 2017-07, Vol.113, p.1-4
• Main Authors: Lyons, Minna, Croft, Amanda, Fairhurst, Sian, Varley, Katie, Wilson, Clarissa
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Accuracy; Antisocial personality disorder; Credibility; Dark Triad; Emotions; Gender differences; High-stakes emotional lies; Individual differences; Machiavellianism; Narcissism; Polygraphs; Sex differences
• ISSN: 0191-8869; 1873-3549
• DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2017.03.008

Although overall people are poor at lie detection, the accuracy depends on the situation (e.g., high versus low-stakes), as well as the characteristics of the person detecting the lie. In an on-line experiment (N=347), we explored the relationship between the Dark Triad (i.e., Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy), and accuracy in detecting lies in high-stakes, emotional TV appeals. The participants filled in a 27-item Dark Triad measure, and watched 20 video-clips of people appealing to find a missing person, half of whom had murdered the person they were appealing to find. In both cross-correlational and regression analyses, Machiavellianism had a significant positive relationship with accuracy in women, and narcissism had a significant negative relationship with accuracy in men. Our results suggest that the Dark Triad is a relevant individual difference affecting lie detection, but it has different correlates for men and women. •Investigated Dark Triad in relation to lie detection•Used high-stakes real life emotional lies•Used a signal detection analysis•Narcissism in men was related to low accuracy.•Machiavellianism in women was related to high accuracy.