Trusting others may not make you necessarily a fool, instead it can be a sign that you’re smart says a study in the current Social Psychological and Personality Science (published by SAGE)..

Several days before 2nd year MBA students watched the tapes of interviewees they believed were telling the truth, they filled out a questionnaire that measured their trust in other people, with questions such as “Most people are basically honest,” and “Most people are basically good-natured and kind.” They then watched the videos, and rated the truthfulness and honesty of the interviewees.

Unknown to the participants half of the interviewees were completely truthful; the other half told at least three significant lies to appear more attractive for the job.

The more faith participants had in their fellow humans, the more they wanted to hire the honest interviewees and to avoid the lying ones. Contrary to the stereotype, people who were low in trust were more willing to hire liars and they were also less likely to be aware that they were liars.

“Although people seem to believe that low trusters are better lie detectors and less gullible than high trusters, these results suggest that the reverse is true,” write co-authors Nancy Carter and Mark Weber of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. “High trusters were better lie detectors than were low trusters; they also formed more appropriate impressions and hiring intentions.

The study concluded that people high in trust were more accurate at distinguishing a lie from the truth and detecting liars than those low in trust.