Do you ever lie? No? Liar! Even if we tend to avoid black lies, most of us tell white lies, either the altruistic or Pareto kind (the former are good for the hearer, the latter are good for both the liar and the hearer). But who lies most, and what type of lies do they tell? There’s only one way to find out. Answer these simple questions.

1) Are you male or female?

2) How much formal education do you have? (a) High school/GCSEs only (b) A levels or equivalent (c) university degree.

3) How old are you? (a) under 30 (b) 31-60 or (c) 61+

What do your answers say about your honesty? First, age (3) is a red-herring. Counter to popular tales of people in bygone days leaving their houses and cars unlocked, there is no evidence to suggest that more recent generations are less honest. Gender differences (1) are real, though small. On average, men tell more lies than women, but only just. The difference is particularly small for Pareto white lies. Education levels (2) are where the really interesting differences lie. The more educated you are, the more likely you are, on average, to tell black lies and Pareto white lies. Levels of altruistic white lies don’t seem to vary with education.

These were the findings of probably the largest ever study of liars, a meta-analysis comprising more than 6,500 participants. But why do more educated people tell more lies, in particular more black lies? Presumably the answer is that telling effective lies – and particularly keeping your story straight across multiple lies – is pretty difficult so requires more brainpower.

Order Are You Smarter Than a Chimpanzee? by Ben Ambridge (Profile Books, £12.99) for £11.04 at bookshop.theguardian.com