Toward a Pan-cultural Typology of Deception Motives

Based on truth-default theory, this research examined accounts of recalled deception to develop a list of deception motives that are general across cultures. Participants from Egypt (N = 29), Guatemala (N = 118), Pakistan (N = 51), Saudi Arabia (N = 169), and the United States (N = 81) were asked, open-ended, to describe an instance of deception or lying either from the perspective of the liar or the target. These descriptions were used to refine and cross-validate a set of deception motives that are applicable across a range of cultures. People lie for a reason, and those reasons include covering a transgression, seeking selfish advantage, avoiding others, seeking to protect others, social politeness, making positive impressions, being malicious, and being funny.