Exploring the decision component of the Activation-Decision-Construction-Action Theory for gain and loss facing scenarios

Inspired by Masip et al.'s (2016) test of ADCAT model's decision component, we wanted to see if we could replicate their findings using different data from a similar scenario-based study. They found that expected value of telling the truth predicted the decisions to lie or tell the truth more accurately than the expected value of lying, and even better than the motivation to lie, which they defined as a difference between these two expected values. In contrast, in our modeling study the motivation to lie was the best predictor of choices for both actual liars and truth tellers in conditions involving gains and large losses, whereas only in the condition involving large losses the expected value of telling the truth outperformed the expected value of lying. We conclude that whether the participants could gain something or avoid losing something by deceiving determined if they focused on benefits of lying or costs of telling the truth.