The LYin lying tendency scale: capturing individual differences in selfish, altruistic, and social-acceptance lying tendencies

Heterogeneity in lying behaviors is well documented in previous studies. However, previous assessment tools mainly lack consideration of various types of lies that would substantially change the nature of lies. The study developed the LYin Lying Tendency Scale (LTS) to assess individuals’ behavioral tendencies in telling selfish, altruistic, and social-acceptance lies. The test–retest reliability, construct, convergent, and discriminant validity were examined in Studies 1–3. Criterion validity was tested by conducting a lying game in Study 4 and measuring participants’ moral decisions and speculations on three types of lying contexts in Studies 5 and 6. Study 5 with three substudies measured participants’ personal decisions in hypothetical daily-life situations and their self-report lying frequency. Study 6 provided hypothetical daily-life situations and measured participants’ speculations of others’ choices. All six studies provided sufficient psychometric support for the LYin LTS. Our study provides a sound assessment tool to measure three types of lying tendencies and sheds light on how individuals’ variations in honesty traits, self-centered, other-regarding, and need-to-belong characteristics link to variations in lying tendencies. Our findings suggest that an individual’s honesty-associated characteristics are various in terms of the consideration of honesty as a moral virtue and the application of deception as a strategy to achieve diverse purposes.