Gender differences in lying in sender-receiver games: A meta-analysis

TL;DR

This meta-analysis of 8,728 observations from sender-receiver games reveals that gender differences in lying vary with the type of lie, with males more likely to tell black and altruistic white lies, but inconclusive for Pareto white lies.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of gender differences in lying across different lie types using a large dataset and meta-analytic methods.

Findings

Males more likely to tell black lies

Males more likely to tell altruistic white lies

Inconclusive gender differences for Pareto white lies

Abstract

Whether there are gender differences in lying has been largely debated in the past decade. Previous studies found mixed results. To shed light on this topic, here I report a meta-analysis of 8,728 distinct observations, collected in 65 Sender-Receiver game treatments, by 14 research groups. Following previous work and theoretical considerations, I distinguish three types of lies: black lies, that benefit the liar at a cost for another person; altruistic white lies, that benefit another person at a cost for the liar; Pareto white lies, that benefit both the liar and another person. The results show that gender differences in lying significantly depend on the consequences of lying. Specifically: (i) males are significantly more likely than females to tell black lies (N=4,161); (ii) males are significantly more likely than females to tell altruistic white (N=2,940); (iii) results are inconclusive in the case of Pareto white lies (N=1,627).