The truth-default is ubiquitous, but some people experience it more than others

Truth-default theory posits that most people are normatively honest and are believed by others. Do people think that others consider them honest? This paper explores how <i>social perceptions of deception</i> align with the truth-default. Using data from the All of Us dataset (<i>N</i> = 116,914 total respondents), we observed that most people feel trusted. While the predicted long-tail distribution was universal across subsamples, people who self-identified as male, are minorities in the US, had less education, and had less income were less likely to feel trusted by others. Connections to and implications for truth-default theory are discussed.