Correlates of narcissism, self‐reported lies, and self‐assessed abilities to tell and detect lies, tell truths, and believe others

Abstract

Abstract This novel research focuses on the relations amongst narcissistic features, self‐assessed communication abilities related to lies and truths, and reports about actual lying. One hundred twenty‐five participants rated their ability to succeed at telling lies, telling the truth convincingly, detecting lies, and believing others. The participants also completed the Narcissistic Personality Inventory and reported their weekly lying frequency using designated questions. Results indicated a positive link between narcissism and self‐ratings of the lie‐telling ability. High narcissistic scorers further exhibited confidence in their abilities to detect lies and to convince listeners using truthful communication. Finally, narcissism correlated with reports of telling frequent lies. Different narcissistic subscales correlated with telling different kinds of lies. The theoretical significance of the present results and their importance to the legal system were discussed.