Deception and reciprocity

Despoina Alempaki (), Gönül Doğan () and Silvia Saccardo ()
Additional contact information
Despoina Alempaki: University of Warwick
Gönül Doğan: University of Cologne
Silvia Saccardo: Carnegie Mellon University

Experimental Economics, 2019, vol. 22, issue 4, No 9, 980-1001

Abstract: Abstract We experimentally investigate the relationship between (un)kind actions and subsequent deception in a two-player, two-stage game. The first stage involves a dictator game. In the second-stage, the recipient in the dictator game has the opportunity to lie to her counterpart. We study how the fairness of dictator-game outcomes affects subsequent lying decisions where lying hurts one’s counterpart. In doing so, we examine whether the moral cost of lying varies when retaliating against unkind actions is financially beneficial for the self (selfish lies), as opposed to being costly (spiteful lies). We find evidence that individuals engage in deception to reciprocate unkind behavior: The smaller the payoff received in the first stage, the higher the lying rate. Intention-based reciprocity largely drives behavior, as individuals use deception to punish unkind behavior and truth-telling to reward kind behavior. For selfish lies, individuals have a moral cost of lying. However, for spiteful lies, we find no evidence for such costs. Taken together, our data show a moral cost of lying that is not fixed but instead context-dependent.

Keywords: Deception; Lying costs; Reciprocity; Punishment; Laboratory experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C90 C92 D0 D82 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10683-018-09599-3

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