Causes of Lying

How many people can say that they have never lied? In all sincerity, there is no one that could confess that. “A lie is an untruth, a deviation, big or small, from what is known to be real. It is a false statement deliberately presented as being true, thus misrepresenting a situation or giving a totally wrong impression about something” (“Why people lie”). It’s a natural feeling to want to lie or omit the truth to get out of a difficult situation. Most of the time people are dishonest because they fear that telling the truth will get them in trouble.

The main motives that cause people to lie are the attempts to avoid punishment, to seek attention, and to protect others feelings. One of the most common reasons that people “tweak” the truth is to avoid punishment. The consequences of our actions can sometimes be frightful and in order to cover up a certain incident we find it necessary to blame someone or something else. A good example would be telling a teacher the dog ate your homework. This person blamed the dog to get away with forgetting to do their worksheet; therefore, they avoided getting a zero for the assignment.

If a guy sees an attractive woman walk by while he is on a date with his girlfriend, it is normal for him to want to get a better glance. At this point it is reasonable for his “sweetie” to question if he was staring and if so, why? Of course the boy was admiring the lovely lady’s beauty, but in order to avoid an argument or even a break up the young man simply explains how he only has eyes for his divine girlfriend. In order to stay out of trouble people must do what they have to stay in the clear. If that means another person has to face the cost of another peer’s action, well so be it.

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Another instance in which lying is quite popular is when individuals want to seek attention. Sometimes people just want to fit in and be accepted by their associates, but in order to do that they must provide false information. “It boils down to the shifting sands of the self and trying to look good both to ourselves and others, experts say” (Lloyd). Some people lie in order to make their life seem more interesting. Saying that you met a famous celebrity or exaggerating about a social outing can make any social life appear exciting.

Most of us want to be the center of attention and in order to get there we must make up stories to capture our friends interest. When a person really likes someone they pretend to be a fan of everything that individual favors just to capture their attention. A lot of times people just want to be perfect and act as if they know everything. In the article “Why people lie” it says: A person applying for a job may claim proficiency in a certain field he's obviously not very good in because the job requirements state it as a prerequisite.

Another such person may similarly claim expertise in a particular area for the sake of impressing his boss, or in hope of promotion. This is called lying to gain an advantage over other people. This is where someone wants to present themselves as a well rounded person to be more qualified for a position. Pretending to be some your not can only take someone so far until their busted. In some cases, what causes us to lie is the need protect other people’s feelings. Lying is usually intended to help ourselves out, but sometimes we do it to keep us from dragging others into our problems.

The medical reports are in and it says you have been diagnosed with cancer. The easy thing to do is to tell friends and family about the illness to gain their support. Lately, the people who love you the most have been really stressed out with problems of their own. Since they are having such a difficult time, some may think it would be best to keep the illness a secret. When loved ones ask about the results of the exam you say everything is “okay”. Dragging others into things that they should not worry about isn’t necessary; it is better if we look after each other’s feelings.

When Moms spend a whole day preparing a special meal for their family it sometimes doesn’t turn out so great, but we realize that they dedicated all their time into creating something everyone could enjoy, so we tell them the food was delicious. A common question asked by ladies is if a particular outfit makes them look fat. Although what they are wearing may make them come across as chubby, you say it looks sensational on them to spare them the grief. “The study, published in the Journal of Basic and Applied Psychology, found that 60 percent of people had lied at least once during the 10-minute conversation, saying an average of 2. 2 inaccurate things” (Lloyd).

The truth is a rare thing to hear now and days, but it’s all in the purpose of creating less drama in our day to day lives. Everyone lies, it’s just another part of life, but behind every lie there is a purpose; whether it is to avoid getting a phone taken up or to make someone feel good. Many situations lead to one of these three causes of lying. Sometimes all people want is to protect themselves or to care for others with false reports. At the end of the day millions of individuals would have lied, but the world continues to revolve.

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