Blinded by guilt: Short-term relational focus and lying

Guilt has often been conceptualized as a moral emotion because it stimulates transgressors to restore a damaged relationship. However, not much has been investigated about when the guilt-induced relational-promoting goal conflicts with certain moral norms (for instance, honesty). In this paper, we demonstrate that guilt increases the transgressors' lying intentions in situations where honesty is anticipated to incur immediate relational harm with the victim and that this effect is driven by the transgressors' short-term relational focus. Across three experiments (two preregistered), we provide robust evidence for our prediction. Study 1 examined the effect of guilt on inflating the feedback to the victim, measured relational focus and the focus on the instrumental value of honesty (i.e., long-term benefits brought by honesty such as career growth) as simultaneous mechanisms, and contrasted the effect of guilt on the lying intention with that of shame. Study 2 better measured the short-termism in the relational focus and examined a situation wherein guilty participants could lie to a third party for the benefit of the victim. Study 3 provided additional support for our proposed mechanism by showing that deliberation on the consequences of not being honest (i.e., indirectly increasing participants' focus on the long-term instrumental value of honesty) decreases people's lying intentions. These results contribute to our understanding of the complex interpersonal nature of guilt and, specifically, its temporal focus.