Sociability

Sociability bias of language is a formal term that describes the human tendency to over-report positive behaviors and to under-report negative or socially undesirable traits. For instance, when interviewing a client you might ask, "How many alcoholic drinks do you consume in a week?" The answer you get will probably be considerably less than the truth. Likewise, if you ask someone how much they contribute to charity it will probably be more than they really do.