Lying and Memory Lapses with Marie-Claire Villeval

In this episode, we speak with Marie-Claire Villeval about her paper, “Unethical amnesia responds more to instrumental than to hedonic motives,” co-authored with Fabio Galeotti and Charlotte Saucet. The research investigates whether memory lapses after lying are more commonly driven by hedonic motives—such as preserving one’s moral self-image—or by instrumental motives, like anticipating future dishonest behaviour. During our conversation, we delve into the nuances of studying moral decision-making and lying, the critical role of piloting and experimentation in developing a robust research design, and Marie-Claire’s insights on cultivating innovative research ideas.