Catching the liar as a matter of justice: Effects of belief in a just world on deception detection accuracy and the moderating role of mortality salience
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In: Personality and Individual Differences, Vol. 73, 01.01.2015, p. 105-109.
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Catching the liar as a matter of justice
T2 - Effects of belief in a just world on deception detection accuracy and the moderating role of mortality salience
AU - Schindler, Simon
AU - Reinhard, Marc André
PY - 2015/1/1
Y1 - 2015/1/1
N2 - Belief in a just world has been linked to high interpersonal trust and less suspicion of deception. We therefore predicted people with a strong dispositional belief in a just world to have low motivation to accurately detect deception. Accordingly, we hypothesized such a belief to be negatively related to accuracy in deception detection. Furthermore, research on Terror Management Theory has indicated that culturally shared values, such as justice, become more important after mortality salience. Thus, we assumed engaging in justice concerns after a death threat is especially relevant for people with a strong belief in a just world, and further, that accurate deception detection is a matter of justice. Based on this reasoning, we expected people with a strong belief in a just world to have an increased motivation to accurately detect deception after mortality salience. Consequently, we hypothesized dispositional differences in belief in a just world to be unrelated to accuracy in deception detection after mortality salience. In line with these predictions, our study revealed that participants with a strong (vs. weak) belief in a just world were worse in deception detection unless they had first been reminded of their mortality.
AB - Belief in a just world has been linked to high interpersonal trust and less suspicion of deception. We therefore predicted people with a strong dispositional belief in a just world to have low motivation to accurately detect deception. Accordingly, we hypothesized such a belief to be negatively related to accuracy in deception detection. Furthermore, research on Terror Management Theory has indicated that culturally shared values, such as justice, become more important after mortality salience. Thus, we assumed engaging in justice concerns after a death threat is especially relevant for people with a strong belief in a just world, and further, that accurate deception detection is a matter of justice. Based on this reasoning, we expected people with a strong belief in a just world to have an increased motivation to accurately detect deception after mortality salience. Consequently, we hypothesized dispositional differences in belief in a just world to be unrelated to accuracy in deception detection after mortality salience. In line with these predictions, our study revealed that participants with a strong (vs. weak) belief in a just world were worse in deception detection unless they had first been reminded of their mortality.
KW - Belief in a just world
KW - Deception detection
KW - Justice
KW - Mortality salience
KW - Terror Management Theory
KW - Psychology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84908110197&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.paid.2014.09.034
DO - 10.1016/j.paid.2014.09.034
M3 - Journal articles
AN - SCOPUS:84908110197
VL - 73
SP - 105
EP - 109
JO - Personality and Individual Differences
JF - Personality and Individual Differences
SN - 0191-8869
ER -