Reactionary lies: When revealed accountability leads to immoral consistency

Abstract: This work examines when people engage in value inconsistent behavior. Specifically, we introduce the notion of reactionary lies, which occur when individuals lie in response to being in an unexpected situation. We find that people are more likely to lie when they learn about their accountability to others in a situation they believed was private. We also show that those with a high moral self-image do this more than others. This work adds a new dimension of compensatory behavior in the moral domain, suggesting that, in instances of revealed accountability, people care more about hiding their value-inconsistent behavior than about balancing their moral equilibrium.

Keywords: morality, lying, decision-making, quantitative methods