Pollyana people not too trusting or easily fooled

Pollyanna

Carol Forsloff - Do people call you a "Pollyana," assuming you are so innocent you cannot tell when you are being duped?  Perhaps it is helpful to know science has found Pollyana people are actually better able to detect liars and not too trusting either.

Several years ago in a study done at the University of Toronto and published in the Social Psychological and Personality Science Journal researchers observed being a Pollyana as an intelligence indicator.


Polyanna is a character from a 1960 film that starred Hayley Mills and Jane Wyman.  The film's principal were seen as optimistic, with Aunt Polly setting the tone for trust and honesty.  Hayley Mills played Polyanna.    It was a film of good cheer with the message of hope and trust that resonated with
viewers at the time.  At the same time, some folks over the years point to these characters as cliches, representing naivete.  It was adapted from a well-known children's story by Eleanor H. Porter.

In the study, participants who had answered questionnaires about their level of trust in other people looked at  tapes of people undergoing job interviews and had to decide which ones were being truthful.  Some of the sample items were like these: "Most people are basically honest,"and "Most people are basically good-natured and kind." They then watched the videos, and rated the interviewees based on the perception they had of truthfulness and honesty.

The study found people high in trust more accurately identified liars than others.  The more trust they had in people, the better able they were to distinguish lies from truth.

 Co-authors Nancy Carter and Mark Weber of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto concluded from this research, "People who trust others are not pie-in-the-sky Pollyannas, their interpersonal accuracy may make them particularly good at hiring, recruitment, and identifying good friends and worthy business partners."

And what are some of the cues people use to detect lying.  Bette DePaulo and co-author Wendy Morris examined characteristics of liars, that Pollyana people and others might observe in detecting liars.  What they found in recent research is that liars take longer to answer questions than truth-tellers do.  They tend to start their answers faster and talk less as well.  They also seem more negative, complaining and nervous.

 So that friend or co-worker people tend to judge as too innocent or lacking ability to discern truth or reality may not only be able to detect liars better than average.  It might also be they are more apt to tell the truth as well, but that's something another Pollyana might be able to determine.