Data from: Culture moderates changes in linguistic self-presentation and detail provision when deceiving others

Change in our language when deceiving is attributable to differences in the affective and cognitive experience of lying compared to truth telling, yet these experiences are also subject to substantial individual differences. On the basis of previous evidence of cultural differences in self-construal and remembering, we predicted and found evidence for cultural differences in the extent to which truths and lies contained self (versus other) references and perceptual (versus social) details. Participants (N = 320) of Black African, South Asian, White European and White British ethnicity completed a catch-the-liar task in which they provided genuine and fabricated statements about either their past experiences or an opinion and counter-opinion. Across the four groups we observed a trend for using more/fewer first-person pronouns and fewer/more third-person pronouns when lying, and a trend for including more/fewer perceptual details and fewer/more social details when lying. Contrary to predicted cultural differences in emotion expression, all participants showed more positive affect and less negative affect when lying. Our findings show that liars deceive in ways that are congruent with their cultural values and norms, and that this may result in opposing changes in behaviour.

个体在欺骗过程中的语言变化，源于说谎与真话陈述时的情感与认知体验差异，但此类体验同样存在显著的个体差异。基于此前关于自我构念（self-construal）与记忆的文化差异研究证据，我们提出假设并得到了验证：真话与谎言中涉及自我（而非他人）的指代、以及知觉（而非社交）细节的占比存在文化层面的差异。本研究共招募320名参与者，分别为黑人非洲裔、南亚裔、欧洲白人裔与英国白人裔，他们完成了识谎任务（catch-the-liar task），需针对自身过往经历，或是某一观点及其对立观点，提供真实陈述与虚构陈述。针对四组参与者的分析均显示，说谎时存在以下趋势：使用更多/更少的第一人称代词，对应更少/更多的第三人称代词；同时说谎者会纳入更多/更少的知觉细节，对应更少/更多的社交细节。与此前关于情绪表达的文化差异假设相悖，所有参与者在说谎时均表现出更积极的情感与更弱的消极情感。本研究结果表明，说谎者的欺骗行为符合其自身的文化价值观与社会规范，且该现象可能引发行为层面的反向变化。