Psychology: Science Confirms We Are All Liars
If we sit in the same room and I decide to call you a liar, I am sure you are going to go completely hard at me. You would not like to be labeled that, in fact nobody likes being labeled a liar but you see, in reality everyone tell a lie. Hey! before you throw me that heavy comment, let's break it down real quick. So join me on this journey where we uncover a lie.
You see, while you might assume you do not tell lies, I will like to let you know that you do tell lies, in fact a lot just to your comfort, Humans have learned to say things that would put us in a position of security, relaxation, or reward even when we have to lie although not to a detrimental point. Researcher Dan Ariely did a study where he gave a group of people different set of mathematics question and asked them to solve the questions as fast as they could saying he would pay them for each question answered. They were to answer the question and dispose their answers in a shredder then come tell the researchers how many questions they answered right.
They were not given enough time and nobody was going to see how many questions they answered since they were going to be shredding it themselves but in reality, the shredder wasn't really going to shred the answer, the researchers were able to see the answer and confirm if they were lying. At the end, it was seen that about 7 in 10 people cheated, where they said they solved 6 problems correctly whereas they solved only four correctly. The researchers realized that these people didn't lie as big as they would have wanted to, but they still told a lie so as to get more reward than they could so their lies were calculated so it doesn't create any form of suspicion based on the time given to them.
Telling is actually done for reward purposes but the reward can differ from one person to another. You are saying you don't tell lies? Let me help you a little to refresh your memory. Did someone ask to know about something confidential or private and in other for you not to give them an answer you just told them a lie, what about that person that asked how your day was and you responded "fine" whereas your day has been hell but since it wasn't really going to be taken into consideration, you just told a lie.
Lie has to do with the creation of a false belief to the person being told about a person or thing which would be the victim. People can lie in different ways such as avoiding the truth, saying what isn't true, exaggerating a truth is also lie, dishonest answers, casting doubt on the truth, and even dishonest inaction. Studies on college students showed that people lie 1/4 times to their best friends, 2/4 times with acquaintances, about 80% when it has to do with strangers, 1/3 when they are discussing with their partners and so on.
Lying and deception isn't a human thing only. Let's start with viruses and what they do to the body, it is deception as they make the body feel they are part of the system, certain parasites control the mind of their hosts, and that is deception which is also lying to survive and reproduce. Flowers trick male flying insect to pollinate them, and octopus camouflage in a form of lie about their real self for defense or attack but it is different with humans because we can all talk.
We lie about our feelings, we lie about our opinions, we lie about our whereabouts, achievements, plans, achievements, failings, success, late behaviors, personal facts, and so on. These ones are very common and it is often done to protect the liar and in some cases the person it is being told to. So the lies can be pro-socials, self-centered, people can even lie to protect the target of the lie and not the liar.
You wonder what I mean by protecting the target, then let's hear the answer to this "would you ever tell a mother to her face that her child isn't sweet and cute?" Actually, let me guess that you are being nice but in reality, you are lying. Some people would not lie to manipulate or exploit, rather they would lie to build others' self esteem, social bonds, and protect people's feeling. Let me say that because we are so used to telling or listening to lies, it is very difficult for humans to spot lies even when they are being lied to at the spot.
In a world where lying is commonplace, it's challenging to discern truth from fiction, even when we're the ones being deceived. So, the next time someone accuses you of lying, remember: deception is a universal human trait, woven into the fabric of social interaction.
Read More
https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-psych-010419-050807
https://www.thecut.com/2015/05/8-true-things-about-the-ways-people-lie.html
https://www.academia.edu/3506112/Culture_and_the_evolution_of_social_learning
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals
https://www.scielo.br/j/tpsy/a/sWQYdH4b78p7srJmsjRYRtM/?format=pdf&lang=en
https://smg.media.mit.edu/library/DePaulo.ManyFacesOfLies.pdf
https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev.ps.40.020189.001025
https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-psych-010418-103135.
Everyone claims to be saying the truth, but so many lies are found in all they say.
Haha hahaha how will you tell a mother to her face that her child is ugly.
haha.. There is that atom of lie in us no matter how we claim to be honest.
It is difficult to run away about lying hehehe. BUt interesting research.
Thanks a lot friend. You see, we are very well comfortable with lying when it is to put us at ease
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