Ethnic Differences

An ethnic group is a group of people who share a common culture. Cultures differ in the incidence of deception, the evaluation of deception, and stereotypes about deception. These contribute to difficulties in cross-ethnic communication.

Researchers have studied cross-cultural differences in the incidence of deception. Historians contend that deception was unknown in many pre-Columbian Indian tribes, and that early Native Americans viewed Europeans' lies as a sign of mental illness. From archival evidence, anthropologists have made inferences about life in 186 preindustrial societies. In some of those societies, children were strongly socialized to be honest; in others, they were not.

Psychologists have done related human subject research. One researcher found ethnic differences in the tendency to give deceptive responses on personality tests. Among students in the United [Page 340]States, those of Latino background were most likely to lie on personality tests, and those of Middle Eastern background were least likely to lie. Another team of investigators asked lifelong natives of 74 countries how often the typical person tells a lie. Responses varied from country to country. People from Algeria and Pakistan gave the highest estimates of the frequency of deception; those from Portugal and Taiwan gave the lowest estimates.

Cultural differences in deception may depend on the medium in which lies are told. In one study, Koreans reported higher levels of face-to-face deception than Americans. However, Koreans and Americans reported equal levels of deceit in computer-based communication.

Corruption is an institutional manifestation of deception. Transparency International, an organization based in Berlin, has assessed corruption annually since 1993. Its 2011 Corruption Perceptions Index provides a measure of the degree of corruption in each of 183 countries worldwide. By this index, the most corrupt countries in the world are Somalia and North Korea, whereas the least corrupt are New Zealand, Denmark, and Finland. In general, corrupt countries tend to be poor and pay their civil servants badly. Corrupt countries also tend to be collectivistic. In these cultures, the emphasis is on the group, rather than the individual.