Not Pollyannas: Higher Generalized Trust Predicts Lie Detection Ability

This research used a job interview context to investigate the relationship between peoples' degrees of generalized trust-their default assessments of the likely trustworthiness of others-and their ability to detect lies. Participants watched videos of eight simulated job interviews: Half of the interviewees were completely truthful; half told a variety of lies to make themselves more attractive job candidates. Contrary to lay wisdom, high trusters were significantly better than low trusters were at detecting lies. This finding extends a growing body of theoretical and empirical work suggesting that high trusters are far from foolish Pollyannas and that low trusters' defensiveness incurs significant costs.