Some people seem to lie so that they appear more honest, a new study has shown.

The apparently contradictory conclusions discovered by scientists at the Hebrew University, University of Chicago and UCLA were based on a series of experiments. 

Those tests found that people who experience favourable results in certain situations will lie so they appear more honest to others.

"Many people care greatly about their reputation and how they will be judged by others, and a concern about appearing honest may outweigh our desire to actually be honest, even in situations where it will cost us money to lie," said lead researcher Shoham Choshen-Hillel. 

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"Our findings suggest that when people obtain extremely favorable outcomes, they anticipate other people's suspicious reactions and prefer lying and appearing honest over telling the truth and appearing as selfish liars."

The researchers found similar results in all of their experiments, which were conducted in Israel, the USA and Britain. 

In one of the tests, lawyers were told to imagine a scenario where they worked either 60 or 90 hours on a case. 

Of the ones told they’d worked 90 hours, the participants put down an average of 88 hours worked. 

The 60-hour group, meanwhile, reported an average of 62.5 hours. 

When members of the 90-hour group were asked why they’d lied, some said it was because they worried the client would feel the lawyer had been dishonest. 

"While our findings may seem ironic or counterintuitive, I think most people will recognize a time in their lives when they were motivated to tell a lie to appear honest," Choshen-Hillel said.