Masculinity and Lies

Front.Psychol., July 30, 2021| https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.684226

Commentary

Fraud in communication has important economic consequences.

The standing literature shows that lying is less prevalent than predicted by standard economic theory, and we investigate whether biology can help explain this behavior.

In a sample of men, we investigated whether masculine traits are associated with (dis)honesty in the send-receive game.

We study three masculine physical traits.

・Second to fourth finger ratio

・Morphometric masculinity of the face

・Facial width-to-height ratio.

These biomarkers will show important associations with lying and deception in the game.

We also investigate the extent to which these effects operate through social preferences and beliefs about the recipient's behavior.

The results suggest that individual differences in honesty in sender and receiver games can be partially explained by physiological factors, and we also investigate whether these associations operate more powerfully through preferences and through beliefs about receiver behavior.

While exposure to sex hormones during fetal development increases truth-telling, the fWHR is associated with aggression and dominance in a variety of situations, predicting more lying and more sophisticated deception.

We observed these associations in an environment where the preferences of senders and receivers were completely opposite, and in fact, female subjects should be included.