Iulia Butean1,2, Ionuț Mone3, Laura Visu-Petra3, Adrian Opre5*
1 Department of Psychology, Babeș-Bolyai University, Republicii Str. 37, 400015, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
2 Regional Centre for Resources and Educational Assistance, Cluj-Napoca. Tel/Fax +40 264590967, E-mail: iuliabutean@psychology.ro
3 Department of Psychology, Babeș-Bolyai University, Republicii Str. 37, 400015, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, E-mail: moneionut@psychology.ro
4 Research in Individual Differences and Legal Psychology (RIDDLE) Lab, Department of Psychology, Babeș-Bolyai University, Republicii Str. 37, 400015, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Tel/Fax +40 264590967, E-mail: laurapetra@psychology.ro
5 Department of Psychology, Babeș-Bolyai University, Republicii Str. 37, 400015, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Tel/Fax +40 264590967, E-mail: adrianopre@psychology.ro
Abstract
Lie acceptability is defined as an attitude toward lying that can vary along a continuum, from considering that lying is completely unacceptable, to a most lenient view upon deception. The present research focused on identifying factors associated with individual differences in lie acceptability in a sample of Romanian adolescents (N =167, 14 9 years). We investigated associations between variables with a preliminary documented theoretical and/or empirical association with lie acceptability (callous-unemotional traits or social desirability), along with exploratory age-specific measures of somatization. Our results revealed that male adolescents who displayed high callousness, uncaring, or somatization tended to view lying as more acceptable. Social desirability did not predict lie acceptability above and beyond these individual predictors. The implications of these findings for attempts to reduce problematic deceptive behavior in adolescence are discussed.
Please cite this article as: Butean, I., Mone, I., Visu-Petra, L., & Opre, A. (2020). Predictors of individual differences in lie acceptability in adolescence: Exploring the influence of social desirability, callous unemotional traits and somatization. Journal of Evidence-Based Psychotherapies, 20(2).
Keywords: lie-acceptability, adolescents, callous-unemotional, somatization
Published online: 2020/09/01
Published print: 2020/09/01
