For well over a century, clinicians have documented the act of frequent lying with labels like "pseudologia fantastica" and "mythomania." More recently, psychologists are researching the characteristics of those who lie to excess. Psychology program directors and researchers Drew Curtis at Angelo State University and Christian L. Hart, from Texas Woman's University, define lying as an intentional act to make someone believe something the liar doesn't believe to be true, which can "become monstrous lies to cover lies, to cover lies."
What's Normal
In 2022, Curtis and Hart interviewed 653 people to determine how many lies a day they consider typical or characteristic of the general populace, and at what point the number of lies told becomes a "problem." Respondents reported telling an average of one to two lies a day. This is consistent with previous studies, as is the number of lies told per day (nine or more) that warrant labeling a liar as habitual, compulsive, or pathological.
Curtis and Hart differentiate between pathological excessive lying and lying due to a personality disorder. They consider lying pathological if it impairs the liar's functioning, harms others, and brings distress, risk, or danger to others. They note that for pathological liars, compulsion to lie in the moment reduces anxiety and brings momentary feelings of relief, but afterwards it may lead to remorse and feelings of guilt.
Scammers and fraudsters — like Bernie Madoff, whose lying is very specific with malicious intent to manipulate and take advantage of others with callous disregard and lack of remorse — are often diagnosed with an antisocial personality disorder, sometimes called a factitious disorder.
When Truth and Goals Clash
Hart explains that he and Curtis are researching the motivators that drive people to lie to excess. "People don't lie randomly. They don't lie for no reason at all. If we see someone lying, there's an incentive that's driving them to lie." They conclude their 2022 study by explaining, "People lie when the truth gets in the way of more important goals."
In 2023, an Italian team, Palena, Caso, and Cavagnis, set out to determine the characteristics of those who are more or less likely to lie, in research titled "Exploring the relationship between personality, morality and lying: A study based on the person-centred approach."
They asked 316 participants to complete an online questionnaire that evaluates personality, moral disengagement, lying ability, frequency, negativity, and context. Their results group into four clusters. The most prolific and successful liars show high Machiavellianism and moral disengagement, and low scores on the HEXACO assessment of personality factors: honesty-humility, emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience.
They measure Machiavellianism using the Machiavellianism Personality Scale (MPS) (Bianchi & Mirkovic, 2020). A Machiavellian personality is defined as amorally manipulative, cold, and calculated, characterized by a strong desire for control, a focus on achieving status, and a deep-seated distrust of others. Machiavellian personality types prioritize self-interest, often exploiting others and utilizing strategic deception to achieve goals.
Morality was measured via the Moral Disengagement Scale (MDS) (Caprara et al.2006). The Moral Disengagement Scale measures the cognitive mechanisms individuals use to justify, excuse, or rationalize unethical, harmful, or immoral behavior to avoid experiencing feelings of guilt. The scale assesses how people "disengage" their moral standards in eight dimensions of morality: justification, euphemistic labelling, contrasting an unethical act with a much worse act to make it appear insignificant, viewing actions as stemming from social pressures or authority figures rather than personal choice, spreading accountability among a group so no single individual feels responsible, disregard of consequences of one's actions on others, dehumanization, and holding the victim responsible for bringing suffering upon themselves.
Personality Clusters
The Italian research finds that skilled and frequent liars score high on moral disengagement and Machiavellianism and low on the HEXACO personality factors. Specifically, they score low on honesty, dislike interacting with others, are not open-minded, and are not caring or empathetic. They are self-oriented and pursue their goals regardless of the impact their actions have on others. People with these traits show higher lie frequency and ability, and have a lower negative response to lying than less frequent liars.
The second cluster includes people who are Machiavellian but more open and conscientious and do not exhibit moral disengagement, making them less likely to lie, according to the researchers.
In contrast, clusters three and four express greater negativity about lying and lie less effectively and less often.
The third cluster scored high on honesty-humility and emotionality, low on moral disengagement, Machiavellianism, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness. Their low scores on moral disengagement and Machiavellianism and high scores on honesty-humility and emotionality indicate they are less likely to lie and lie less often.
Least Likely Liars
The fourth cluster's traits are the opposite of those of the most frequent liars. They score low on Machiavellianism and moral disengagement, and high on honesty-humility, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness. They show the lowest frequency and ability to lie and the highest negativity to lying.
While these results may be expected, they help identify the characteristics of the propensity of different personality types to lie and support the concept of a small proportion of people who show a higher frequency of lying than the rest of the population.