When a rival lies or cheats, we demand justice. But when a friend does, we offer excuses. Equally, we believe our team plays by the rules while others bend them.

Yet honesty depends on the messenger.

When someone from our in-group bends the truth, we call it strategic, but when the out-group does it, we call it deceit.

In a modern era of algorithmic bubbles, deep fakes, and partisan feeds, the cost of this bias grows. When we assume the "other side" lies more, we stop fact-checking ourselves. This fuels misinformation and distrust.

A recent study of over 5,000 participants rated out-group members as more likely to lie compared to in-groups—without hard evidence. The more we cling to our group identity, the more distorted our ethical radar tends to become.

That distortion matters. It can fuel whisper campaigns, discrimination, unfair penalization, and disproportionate punishment. All deepen division as polarization continues to intensify.

In the study, participants were offered........

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