Reasons why do People Lie

People lie all time, whether it is about how much money we make, or if it was about drinking or doing drugs. It doesn't matter. The real question is why do we feel the need to lie? It’s not only kids that lie, it is adults that do it, in some cases more than children do. Many people lie because they think that they will be in less trouble when they lie rather than telling the truth about what actually happened. When you lie, you have to keep creating more lies about the story, and then make sure that you tell the same exact story to all the other people that you tell.

We also hear that people lie because they just want to fit in with their social group, or dont want to be embarrassed or judge by other people. Personally, I have lied and I admit it, but I always tend to have that feeling of regret after I do, because I know it wasn't the right thing to do. I have been lied to many times, and I know for sure that it is hard for me believe anything that comes from that person, because of that one lie. While I was growing up, I was always told to tell the truth, because gaining back the person trust will be hard, and also won't ever be the same. Once you break trust in a relationship it's gone, and we all know that. We all know that lying is wrong, but yet people lie all the time, sometimes more than saying the truth, but why do we still lie about things?

In my survey, I asked ten people 6 questions. The first question was if they have lied in the past week, and 80 percent said yes, which leads me to the next question which was have they ever lied to their parents and 90 percent said yes. As a teen many of us lie especially to our parents whether it is about drinking or who we are actually hanging out with because we know that our parents will say yes. Due to the prefrontal cortex not being fully developed, teens are more likely to lie rather than adults, which doesn’t mean that for all cases because some adults lie much more than teens do. (Health enews Staff) The third question was asking if they have ever lied to their boss and 60% said yes, which surprised me.

Personally, lying to my boss doesn't make sense, especially if they find out you have a possibility of losing your over a lie. The most important question of the survey was why do you think people lie? 60 percent said the main reason they lie is to get out of punishment, while the second reason is to avoid embarrassment. The most uncommon reason to lie is to fit in according to my survey only 10 percent said this. After finding they have lied, I asked if they have ever felt bad after they lied and 60 percent said yes. 80 percent said that it was better that they lied rather than to telling the truth in some situations.

Showing that most people lie to get out punishment, this is not surprising at all. If you think about it many criminals today lie, but eventually it all catches up to them in the end. Most teens lie to their parents about going to party to avoid punishment, which is very common, or about a bad grade that they got on a english test. But, once the lie comes out the liar tends to be in even more trouble because they lied about the situation rather than just telling the truth at that certain moment.

The other popular reason to lie was avoid embarrassment. Today, our society is so judgmental about everything, the way people look, what they wear, how much money they have, so why wouldn't people lie about certain things to avoid being embarrassed or getting made fun of by their friends. ( Morris, Ryan) Embarrassment makes people feel down about themselves, and we all know that people can be super rude to others about certain things. Back to the teens lying, teens tend to lie about if they have ever drank or done drugs before because they feel as if they say no then they will get made fun of or be embarrassed which also could push the kid into doing those type of bad things to make them not feel embarrassed and not have to lie. Avoiding embarrassment is along the same lines of fitting in. Everyone knows what it feels like to be embarrassed and no one likes that feeling.

We have all heard people tell 2 different stories of the same exact problem, but who do we trust? When we are under pressure in a fight or issue our brain doesn't work as it should. Our brains will not remember or catch exactly what happened during the fight so we tell lies without even knowing that we are lying. When we are under stress, we tend to think about what we want to happen rather than what is actually happening at that exact time, which is hard to even tell the truth when we believe we have the truth, because it is how we remember it and saw it all happen when it really didn’t happen that way.

“Pathological lying isn’t a clinical diagnosis, though it can sometimes be a symptom of other issues, such as a personality disorder or a manic episode.” stated David J. Ley Ph.D. Pathological liars lie over and over again about things, and don't gain anything from it, as for a personality disorder person's mood changes quickly, and manic disorder is also mood changes. Liars believe that if they lie they will get something from that, like a benefit or reward from the lie, but when they get caught in a lie they will lose that reward or benefit and will also lose their reputation and will be viewed as a liar from now on. An example of someone lying to gain a reward or benefit is a person lying about how much sales they had in their company and saying that they had more sales than they actually did, which could make them get a promotion, but if they get caught they could lose their jobs.

There is not definite answer to why people lie. We all know that lying is the wrong thing to do but yet we still do it whether it is for the better or not. Eventually the lying will catch up and take a toll on our lives whether it ruin the rest of our lives or just that certain day. “Honesty may be the best policy, but scheming and dishonesty are part of what makes us human.”

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