The Socialization of Honesty and Deception in Negotiation: A Longitudinal Study of Law Students

Abstract: This study examines how professional socialization during law school shapes honesty and deception in negotiation. Across three years, 3,552 law students responded to negotiation vignettes and questions about negotiation beliefs, conflict‑management styles, and moral character (honesty–humility, guilt proneness). From first to third year, students became less likely to make false statements yet more likely to proceed to settlement without disclosing material facts or correcting mistaken assumptions. Moral character predicted greater truthfulness across all scenario types, including when disclosure was discretionary. Modest within‑person declines in honesty–humility over time corresponded to a greater likelihood of facilitating client fraud by withholding material facts. Law students’ conflict management styles shifted toward more compromising and less avoidance, with corresponding reductions in adversarial beliefs about negotiation. Together, the findings suggest that professional socialization in law school may curb overt unethical tactics (commission) while boosting subtler forms of deception (omission).

Keywords: Negotiation Ethics; Deception; Moral Character; Law