Avoiding An Honest Answer?

NPR has an article last week called Research Explores Consequences Of Revealing Embarrassing Details.

OK, so here's the scene. You're being interviewed for a job. You get asked an embarrassing question, and you think about it and you decide - what the heck? - I'll tell the truth. Well, we're tracking new research this morning that suggests you might just have improved your chances of landing that job.

A study through the Harvard Business School suggest that many of us might be picking the wrong approach. So when we're asked to fill out employee surveys or dating profiles, we often choose not to answer embarrassing questions. But it turns out, we underestimate the effect this has on other people's opinions of us.

In one experiment, people were asked to choose between two prospective dating partners. One of them declines to answer whether he or she has ever hidden a sexually transmitted disease from a dating partner. This person is called a "withholder" because he or she is withholding information. The other person reveals all kind of unsavory things about themselves, and volunteers are then asked which person they would prefer to date.

One of the prospective dates, the "revealer", has given the worst possible answer to each of the questions, has said that they frequently cheat on their tax return. They frequently file false insurance claims. And what we find (laughter), again and again, is that people tend to prefer the revealer.

Sixty-four percent of people chose to date the revealer over the withholder.

A LINK to the full article and audio version.