Two Truths and a Lie: A Falsehood is Less Unethical to Tell When Truths Make a Case for It

We investigate third party perceptions of the unethicality of making a false accusation. Across three studies we find that false accusations of specific behaviors are judged as significantly less unethical to make if participants are first exposed to other ‘true’ instances that share the false accusations overarching message or gist. This ‘gist’ mechanism and alternative explanations for the effect are explored. This research seeks to understand a phenomenon of why we might not hold those who launch false accusations to account.