11 Traits Of Low Integrity People That Are Easy To Spot Once You Know
Being around someone who lacks compassion, empathy, and integrity can be draining.
G-Stock Studio | Shutterstock While it may seem solely essential to healthy relationships to prioritize moral integrity and honesty, the truth is, it can also be integral to your physical and mental health. According to a study from Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, people who live their lives alongside high moral standards and integrity reduce their risk for depression, anxiety, and cardiovascular disease.
However, being faulty with integrity or surrounding yourself with dishonest and morally vague people can have adverse effects, negatively affecting relationships and your personal health. However, recognizing the traits of low integrity people that are easy to spot once you know can help to protect you — that is, if you have the self-awareness and confidence to set boundaries around their behavior.
Here are 11 traits of low integrity people that are easy to spot once you know
1. They focus on technicalities
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Rather than getting to the point, making a compromise, or meeting you in the middle, a low integrity person focuses on the technicalities and "the grey areas" of your arguments. They don't care about ensuring you feel valued, seen, and heard, because they're too concerned about "being right" or rigid.
Of course, many of the traits of low integrity people that are easy to spot once you know revolve around their lack of empathy. They're not only less concerned with compromise and making people feel appreciated in their interactions, they struggle with being able to read other people's emotions as a symptom of their dishonesty, according to a study from the Journal of Experimental Psychology.
They're always using phrases like "I didn't say that" or "remember that time when you..." to divert away from the point of an argument and shift blame and attention toward the technicalities. Of course, this isn't always a sign of low integrity — for some, it's a sign of neurodiversity that has nothing to do with honesty, blame-shifting, or empathy.
2. They lie about little things
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People with low integrity don't care about building a foundation of trust in their relationships, because they're more concerned with protecting their ego and painting themselves in the best light. They're not only willing to lie about big things in their relationships and arguments, they offer up consistent white lies for things that seem unsuspectingly mundane.
While they seem innocent, a study from the Journal of Neuroscience suggests that white lies are hardly altruistic; in fact, they tend to be motivated by entirely selfish motives.
3. They're gossipy
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When there's an opportunity to bond with others or assert their own ego by gossiping about others, a person with low integrity will do it, even if that means spreading rumors or talking poorly about their own close friends and family.
Being gossipy and willing to sabotage trust for the sake of external validation are a few of the traits of low integrity people that are easy to spot once you know. You'll not only feel less comfortable and confident in telling them secrets and sharing your vulnerability, you'll start to realize they never keep their word.
4. They blame-shift
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According to a 2019 research study on accountability, societal norms misguidedly associate making mistakes with weakness, which is why many people with low integrity try to assert their superiority and avoid accountability by blame-shifting. They'd prefer to paint someone else as the perpetrator of toxic behavior, even at the expense of honesty in their relationships.
Blame-shifting is one of the traits of low integrity people that are easy to spot once you know, because no matter the argument, topic of conversation, or situation, you somehow always end up as "the bad guy," even when expressing emotions and concerns.
5. They hardly ever keep their promises
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According to a study from the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, self-aware people with more emotional regulation skills tend to keep their promises more than those who make vague ambitious commitments.
They not only understand what it takes to keep their promises, they plan, think about, and consider all elements of their commitments, ensuring they know what they're agreeing to before they say it.
However, being unable to keep their promises is one of the traits of low integrity people, because they tend to make lofty promises that they have no intention or ability to actually keep.
6. They're unreliable
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Outside of failing to keep promises in their relationships, many people with low integrity are also literally unreliable — showing up late, canceling plans last minute, and forgetting to show up for obligations they agreed to.
Considering these traits are fairly easy to spot once you recognize a pattern, it's essential to set boundaries around the kind of behavior you're willing to tolerate. If you let someone be consistently unreliable in a relationship, never setting boundaries or expressing your expectations, it could spiral into an anxious attachment that follows you into your next relationship.
7. They twist the facts
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People who use manipulative and gaslighting behaviors aim to spark confusion, self-doubt, and insecurity in the people they're victimizing, according to a study from American Sociological Review. Whether that means twisting the facts in an argument, blame-shifting, or playing the victim, they're willing to do whatever it takes to make you easier to manipulate to get what they want.
Rather than taking accountability and having open honest conversations, they misguidedly try to protect their ego by lying and skewing the story to favor themselves.
8. They act differently around certain people
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It's natural to act differently around certain people, especially when you're self-aware enough to recognize social interactions and contexts that require different obligations. However, always shifting your personality to mesh with everyone can also be one of the traits of low integrity people that are easy to spot once you know.
They don't prioritize loyalty or trust with any one person, regardless of their relationships, so they don't mind talking poorly about someone behind their back, acting "single" when they're not, and betraying trust to get external validation from whoever is around them.
9. They lack empathy
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According to a study from the Journal of Personality, there's a strong link between empathy, compassion, and integrity in most people. When someone has low integrity and acts dishonestly, they're less likely to harbor empathetic traits like making compromises, setting their own needs aside, and committing to open communication.
Of course, in a relationship, a lack of empathy can manifest itself in a number of toxic ways — sabotaging conflict-resolution skills in arguments, sparking resentment, and making partners feel consistently unheard and unvalued.
10. They withhold affection
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As one of the hallmarks of a transactional relationship that sparks resentment and mistrust, withholding affection is a tactic people with low integrity use to get what they want. Similar to emotional manipulation and gaslighting, people with low integrity withhold affection in situations where they need something, instead of offering up their love, attention, and intimacy unconditionally.
Not only does this spark a sense of obligation in a relationship that can sabotage connection and trust, it often encourages partners on the other side of this tactic to build anxious attachment styles with their spouse.
11. They take credit for other people's work
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People who don't care about respecting boundaries, leading with empathy, or living an integrity-forward lifestyle often take credit for other people's work to assert their own superiority. As long as they're getting what they want — whether it's external validation, praise, or a tangible reward — they don't mind hurting other people to get there.
While this is most common in workplace environments, it's also possible that partners in intimate relationships will take credit for solving problems, bearing the emotional labor tasks or even doing chores to make themselves look better to other people.
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a staff writer with a bachelor's degree in social relations & policy and gender studies who focuses on psychology, relationships, self-help, and human interest stories.
