Blueberry comments on Unknown knowns: Why did you choose to be monogamous? - Less Wrong

48 Post author: WrongBot 26 June 2010 02:50AM

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Comment author: Blueberry 03 July 2010 10:00:58AM 1 point [-]

However, there's still a difference.

A much smaller one, which may well be within statistical bounds. Good point about people knowing that lie detectors don't work. That may account for any remaining difference.

Apparently, there was no experiment with the men hooked up to a (bogus) lie detector, and I think there should have been.

Sure there was:

Men who thought they were attached to a polygraph reported an average of 4.0 sexual partners, compared to 3.7 partners for those who thought their answers might be seen.

Comment author: NancyLebovitz 03 July 2010 11:21:27AM 1 point [-]

Thanks-- goes to show I should have read the linked material.

I'm surprised. I'd have expected that men would lie about having more partners rather than fewer, but that might be mere stereotyping on my part.

The other possibility I can think of is that people who think they're hooked to a lie detector don't just say what they immediately think is true, they check their memories more carefully.

Comment author: cupholder 04 July 2010 05:33:29AM 1 point [-]

I'd have expected that men would lie about having more partners rather than fewer, but that might be mere stereotyping on my part.

Or maybe the sample's not representative of most men - the sample was of Midwestern psychology undergraduate students.

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