What makes people tell lies

They might rave about the cleanser, saying they had acne their whole life, and nothing worked to clear it until they found this product, the holy grail of facial cleansers. It changed their life. And it can change yours. Is it true? Probably not. Is it an effective tactic? Often yes. Think of a child who broke a glass, Feldman says.

When their parent asks if they broke the glass, they're probably going to say no, even though it's an obvious lie. People will also lie to protect others, like if the child's older sibling says they saw the dog knock the glass over People may lie to get an outcome they want for themselves or others, Feldman says.

The lie might be to avoid being embarrassed, to hide an awkward situation, or to simply have others think better of the person telling the fib. Such lying isn't admirable, but not hard to understand why it occurs. It's harder to fathom why some people often tell lies with no clear purpose and when the lies are usually easy to disprove.

Researchers say there are various reasons why some people lie compulsively. One is that the lie being told may not seem a lie to the person telling it. Repetitive liars can sometimes feel so much pressure that their memory is unreliable. They try to relieve that pressure by saying something that will make the situation work. For that person, what was just said is what they want to believe. The person lying may so badly want the lie to be the truth that the lie becomes his or her actual truth. For example, the couple who claims to have eloped because the cost of a wedding was beyond their means when, in reality, they were avoiding the obligation to invite their families.

To exercise power over others by controlling the information the target has. Famously embodied by Hitler, this is arguably the most dangerous motive for telling lies. I suspect there are motivations behind telling lies that fall outside one of the above nine categories , such as trivial deceits like lies told out of politeness or tact, which are not easily subsumed by these nine motives.

However, these nine were presented in data I collected myself and can, at least, be used as the foundation to explain why people lie. When lying, the face often contains two messages- what the liar wants to show and what the liar wants to conceal. Often, these hidden emotions leak in the form of a micro expression , a brief half a second or less involuntary facial expression revealing true emotion.

While Dr. Ekman cautions that a single micro expression or flash of leakage does not offer conclusive proof of lying, micro expressions are one of the most effective nonverbal behaviors to monitor to indicate a person is being dishonest.

You must be logged in to post a comment. Boasting about something untrue is an obvious instance. It is common in children, some adolescents, and even adults. If discovered it harms the reputation of the boaster, but not much more than that.

Claiming falsely to have earned money for previous investors moves into the criminal realm. To maintain privacy, without asserting that right, is another reason why people may lie. Another topic I will return to in my newsletter about trust. Some people lie for the sheer thrill of getting away with it, testing their unsuspected power. Many children will at some point lie to their parents simply to see if they can do it.

Some people do this all the time enjoying the power they obtain in controlling the information available to the target. Avoiding embarrassment is still another motive for some serious and many trivial lies. The child who claims the wet seat resulted from spilling a glass of water, not from wetting her pants is an example, if the child did not fear punishment for her failure, just embarrassment.

Avoiding embarrassment is relevant to many less serious lies that come under the rubric of lies-of-everyday-life. Very often people lie to get out of an awkward social situation.