Recognizing dishonesty is difficult. It involves both cognitive and moral judgments in situations where it is often costly to gather information. Some individuals are better at it than others; some situations make information gathering less costly. This article uses signal detection theory to model the individual and situational effects on assessments that someone has lied. Signal detection theory is explained, and examples of how it can be used to model other moral judgments are provided.
Aristotle. (1952).The works of Aristotle (Vol. 2). Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica.
2.
Cherrington, D. J., & Cherrington, J. O. (1985). The climate of honesty in retail stores. In W. Terris (Ed.),Employee theft (pp. 3-16). Park Ridge, IL: London House.
3.
Churchland,P. M. (1996).The neural representationof the social world. In L. May, M. Friedman, & A. Clark (Eds.),Mind and morals (pp. 91-108). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
4.
Cialdini, R. B. (1996). Social influence and the triple tumor structure of organizational dishonesty. In D. M. Messick & A. E. Tenbrunsel (Eds.),Codes of conduct behavioral research into business ethics (pp. 44-58). New York: Russell Sage.
5.
Ciulla, J. B. (1996). Leadership and the problem of bogus empowerment. In J. B. Ciulla (Ed.) Working papers ethics and leadership focus group (pp. 43-67). College Park, MD: Kellogg Leadership Studies Project.
6.
Coleman, L., & Kay, P. (1981). Prototype semantics.Language, 57(1), 26-44.
7.
Crossen, C. (1994).Tainted truth. New York: Simon & Schuster.
8.
De Paulo, B. M., & Bell, K. L. (1996). Truth and investment: Lies are told to those who care. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 703-716.
9.
Ditton, J. (1977). Perks, pilferage, and the fiddle: The historical structure of invisible wages. Theory and Society, 4, 39-71.
10.
Dunn, W. S, Mount, M. K., Barrick, M. R., & Ones, D. S. (1995). Relative importance of personality and general mental ability in managers'judgments of applicant qualifications.Journal of Applied Psychology, 80, 500-509.
11.
Ekman, P. (1988).Lying and nonverbal behavior: Theoretical issues and new findings.Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 12(3), 163-175.
12.
Ekman,P., & O'Sullivan, M. (1991).Who can catch a liar?American Psychologist, 46, 913-920.
13.
Elm, D. R., & Teplensky, J. D. (1992).Three faces of honesty: A confirmatory factor analysis [Working paper]. St. Paul, MN: University of St. Thomas.
14.
Feldman Barrett, L., & Swim, J. K. (1998). Appraisals of prejudice and discrimination. In J. K. Swim & C. Stangor (Eds.),Prejudice: The target's perspective (pp. 11-36). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
15.
Frederick, W. C. (1985). Embedded values: Prelude to ethical analysis. In P. Hogue Werhane & K. D'Andrade (Eds.),Profit and responsibility (pp. 47-64). New York: Edwin Mellen.
16.
Green, D. M., & Swets, J. A. (1966).Signal detection theory and psychophysics. New York: John Wiley.
17.
Greenberg, J. (1990). Employee theft as a reaction to underpayment inequity: The hidden cost of pay cuts.Journal of Applied Psychology, 75, 561-568.
18.
Greenberg, J. (1993). Stealing in the name of justice: Informational and interpersonal moderators of theft reactions to underpayment inequity.Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 54, 81-103.
19.
Greenberg, J. (1997). A social influence model of employee theft: Beyond the fraud triangle. In R. J. Lewicki, R. J. Bies, & B. H. Sheppard (Eds.),Research on negotiation in organizations(pp. 29-52). Greenwich, CT: JAI.
20.
Grover, S. L. (1993). Lying, deceit, and subterfuge: A model of dishonesty in the workplace. Focused issue: The legalistic organization.Organization Science, 4, 478-495.
21.
Hochschild, A. R. (1983).The managed heart: Commercialization of human feeling. Berkeley: University of California Press.
22.
Hume, D. (1992).A treatise of human nature. Oxford, UK: Clarendon.
23.
Johnson, M. (1993).Moral imagination. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
24.
Jones, J. W. (1985). Dishonesty, staff burnout, and employee theft. In W. Terris (Ed.),Employee theft (pp. 67-80). Park Ridge, IL: London House.
25.
Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1984). Choices, values, and frames.American Psychologist, 39, 341-350.
26.
Ladd, J. (1970). Morality and the ideal of rationality in formal organizations.The Monist, 499, 499-515.
27.
Lakoff, G. (1987). Cognitive models and prototype theory. In U. Neisser (Ed.),Concepts and conceptual development (pp. 11-24). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
28.
Langenderfer, J., & Shimp, T. (2001). Consumer vulnerability to scams, swindles, and fraud: A new theory of visceral influences on persuasion.Psychology & Marketing, 18, 763-763.
29.
Leiser, B. (1983). Deceptive practices in advertising. In T. L. Beauchamp & N. E. Bowie (Eds.), Ethical theory and business (pp. 141-169). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
30.
Lewicki, R. J. (1983). Lying and deception a behavioral model. In M. H. Bazerman & R. J. Lewicki (Eds.),Negotiating in organizations (pp. 68-90). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
31.
Lewicki, R. J., Poland, T., Minton, J. W., & Sheppard, B. H. (1997). Dishonesty as deviance: A typology of workplace dishonesty and contributing factors.Research on Negotiation in Organizations, 6, 53-86.
32.
Lewicki, R. J., & Robinson, R. J. (1998). Ethical and unethical bargaining tactics: An empirical study.Journal of Business Ethics, 17, 665-682.
33.
Lewicki, R. J., & Stark, N. (1996). What is ethically appropriate in negotiations: An empirical examination of bargaining tactics.Social Justice Research, 9(1), 69-95.
34.
Manning, P. K. (1978). Lying, secrecy, and social control. In P. K. Manning & J. Van Maanen (Eds.),Policing: A view from the street (pp. 238-255). New York: Random House.
35.
McFall, R. M., & Treat, T. A. (1999). Quantifying the information value of clinical assessments with signal detection theory.Annual Review of Psychology, 50, 215-241.
36.
Morris, J. A., & Feldman, D. C. (1996). The dimensions, antecedents, and consequences of emotional labor.Academy of Management Review, 21, 986-1010.
37.
Murphy, K. R. (1993).Honesty in the workplace. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
38.
O'Reilly, C. A., III. (1978). The intentional distortion of information in organizational communication: A laboratory and field investigation.Human Relations, 31(2), 173-193.
39.
O'Reilly, C. A., III, & Roberts, K. H. (1974). Information filtration in organizations: Three experiments.Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 11, 253-265.
40.
Sacks, H. (1975).Everyonehas to lie. In M. Sanches & B. G. Blount (Eds.),Sociocultural dimensions of language use (pp. 57-79). New York: Academic Press.
41.
Schein, V. (1979). Examining and illusion: The role of deceptive behaviors in organizations. Human Relations, 32, 287-295.
42.
Scott, E. D., & Jehn, K. A. (1999). Ranking rank behaviors: A comprehensive situation-based definition of dishonesty.Business & Society, 38, 299-328.
43.
Shapiro, D. L., Lewicki, R. J., & Devine, P. (1995). When do employees choose deceptive tactics to stop unwanted organizational change?: A relational perspective. In R. J. Bies, R. J. Lewicki, & B. H. Sheppard (Eds.),Research on negotiation in organizations (pp. 155-184). Greenwich, CT: JAI.
44.
Smith, A. (1976).Theory of moral sentiments. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
45.
Sweetser, E. E. (1992). The definition of lie an examination of the folk models underlying a semantic prototype. In N. Quinn & D. Holland (Eds.),Cultural models in language and thought (pp. 43-66). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
46.
Takala, T., & Urpilainen, J. (1999). Managerial work and lying: A conceptual framework and an explorative case study.Journal of Business Ethics, 20, 181-195.
47.
Treviño, L. K. (1986). Ethical decision making in organizations: A person-situation interactionist model.Academy of Management Review, 11, 601-617.
48.
Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1974). Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases.Science, 185, 1124-1131.
49.
Wilson, J. Q. (1993).The moral sense. New York: Free Press.
50.
Zeitlin, L. R. (1971). A little larceny can do a lot for employee morale.Psychology Today, 5(1), 22-24.
