Understanding the underlying structure of deceptive behaviors

The goals of this project were to evaluate the structure of deceptive behaviors in college students and investigate relationships between personality and these behaviors. After developing nine categories of deceptions (Study 1), we created and administered a self-report instrument to undergraduate college students (Study 2) that assessed use of the categories as well as several self-report personality measures. We hypothesized a structure to our data that decomposed the original deception categories into three classes: Self-gain, Impression-Manipulation, and Disclosure. The instrument was revised and re-administered to a new group of students in Study 3. Our measurement model was tested using structural equation modeling (SEM). Variability on the resulting two classes of deceptions was predicted by unique combinations of personality traits. We suggest that categories of lying represent a hierarchy of broad to more specific types.