Figuring out who is being honest about themselves is frequently one of the most challenging aspects of meeting someone. If someone exaggerates what they do for a living or how well they did in school is it a fatal flaw? Should you run the other way or accept that this is just a normal, but awkward, attempt by that person to express personal goals and ambitions? Recent research, reported by Richard Gramzow at the University of Southampton and colleagues, suggests that some types of embellishment may in fact indicate positive traits which are worth considering before you flee.

This research found that many students, when asked about previous academic performance, exaggerated their grades. Surprisingly these same students tended to do better on future tests than they did on previous tests. This suggests that, in this case, embellishment reflected a desire and intent to do better in the future than a true desire to misrepresent themselves.

One fact that has been essential to psychologists who study deception is the thinking that people who lie also show signs of stress; their heart tends to beat more rapidly and they tend to get sweaty palms. The physical effort it takes to try and hide the truth is the reason why lie detection is often successful. In this research study, researchers found that students who embellished their grades typically showed no physical signs of deception, remaining as cool as could be.

The researchers conclude that exaggeration differs greatly from overt lying. Adding a bit of wishful thinking to a past accomplishment is very different than keeping a secret from someone or from manufacturing a story entirely. Those who embellish seem to hope to be better themselves. And as this research suggests they often do move toward that goal.

Further Reading:

Gramzow RH, Willard G, Mendes WB. (2008) Big tales and cool heads: academic exaggeration is related to cardiac vagal reactivity. Emotion. 8(1):138-144.