Is it possible to lie more or less openly and still be perceived as sincere? Yes, says Stephan Lewandowsky. In his lecture, the cognitive psychologist shows that “belief-speaking” – the sincere expression of one’s convictions, even when they are factually wrong – can be an effective strategy for politicians. But what does that mean for the political system? In his talk, Stephan Lewandowsky will certainly engage in “fact-speaking” to answer that question. Please find the details below. 

Join us on Tuesday, 2 December 2025, from 11:45 - 13:15 in Y213 or online on Zoom:

https://uni-konstanz-de.zoom.us/j/99645527345?pwd=CXBQ14bRmoSCoYCafGa5TCdeKpANbH.1  

Meeting ID: 996 4552 7345
Meeting code: 270524 

Title: Honest Liars and the Threat to Democracy

Abstract: Fact-checkers documented over 30,000 false or misleading claims by Donald Trump during his first presidency, yet most Republican voters still considered him honest throughout. This paradox can be understood through the lens of two distinct psychological conceptions of honesty: “fact-speaking,” which prioritizes factual accuracy, and “belief-speaking,” which values sincere expression of belief and authenticity. A politician may state falsehoods but still be perceived as honest if their followers see them as sincerely expressing their beliefs.
We analyze political communication on Twitter/X to explore these conceptions. Using computational methods, we show that politicians who engage in belief-speaking are more likely to spread low-quality information. Additionally, in conversations with the public, responses mirror the honesty framework of the original political statements, demonstrating a “contagion” effect. Experiments further support these findings, showing that people’s conceptions of honesty and truthfulness shift based on the conversational context.
Individuals can also be explicitly asked to adopt either a fact-speaking or belief-speaking perspective when evaluating politicians and political content. Encouraging fact-speaking reduces the acceptance of misinformation and decreases tolerance for democratic norm violations by politicians.
These findings suggest that the way people define honesty is critical to democratic health. Promoting fact-based honesty may help counter the spread of misinformation and reinforce democratic norms.

Stephan Lewandowsky is a Professor of Cognitive Psychology with an interest in computational modeling. He examines the persistence of misinformation in society, and how myths and misinformation can spread. He is particularly interested in the variables that determine whether or not people accept scientific evidence, for example surrounding vaccinations or climate science. He is a highly-cited researcher and member of numerous advisory boards and expert panels.

Eda Keremoglu will chair this event. She is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Politics and Public Administration and a Cluster-PI. Her main research area is comparative authoritarian politics, with a focus on inequality, digital politics, and societal cooptation.