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Running Head: LIES

Lies within Society

Kelly Drash

Glen Allen High School


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LIES

Introduction:

Lying has been ingrained within our society since the beginning of time. With every day

that passes, more and more lies are told for various reasons. Whether it be to one’s parents,

significant other, or a simple white lie - lying happens. But recognizing the phenomenon hardly

achieves anything for many individuals still cannot distinguish when someone lies to their face.

When lies fill such a large portion of our lives, the ability to separate the truth from the false

becomes a necessity – one society neglects. Because they encompass so much of the world

today, the research behind lying and extracting its importance is paramount.

Why we tell lies:

Since lying is inescapable, explicit mental reasoning’s have developed to uncover the

why. A behavioral scientist at the University of Arizona, Wendy Gamble, classified the idea of

lying into four distinctive categories: “prosocial, self-enhancement, selfish, [and] antisocial”

(“Lying”, 2018)). Each category analysis the different scenarios people typically find

themselves lying in. Prosocial encompasses the need to protect someone else or lie for the

benefits of others, while its counterpart is the antisocial category where the liar does so with the

intent to hurt and create pain (“Lying”, 2018). Yet, the issue and struggle with identifying

individuals with the ‘label’ of antisocial is those people who “engage in lies have little to no

guilt” causing lies to be almost indistinguishable (Friedman, 2003). The other two categories

Gamble created are self-explanatory. When one lies selfishly, they are only doing so to shield

themselves disregarding others while self-enhancement places oneself on a podium in order to

protect one’s image or to avoid punishment. The categories are broad in order to include most
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situations in which lying takes place for the one lying is driven by something – ideally one of the

four groups. Statistically,

“about 22% of the time, we lie to cover up mistakes or something bad we did.

Then, three groups share second place, each coming in at around 15% of the

times the we lie. First, for money. Second, for personal advantage. And third,

to avoid seeing other people” (Kruszelnicki, 2017).

At Yale, there is an experimental economist – Jonathan Schulz – created the term

“justified cheating” in order to encompass the idea that “people only lie to the extent that they

can [morally] justify” (Hamers, 2016). This ideal goes back to the foundation of lying and

childhood development for as collective society, children are taught honesty is in fact the best

policy – even if ironically, the parents do not follow their statements. The parents themselves

tell white lies on a daily basis to connect with their children. A study was conducted by Dr.

Kang Lee – a professor at Queens University under the Psychology Department – to analyze

white lies with young children. With a sample size of 400 boys and girls, it was found that 60%

of them told the white lie that they were happy with their prize – “a used bar of soap” – because

before the experiment parents told their kids to behave and be polite to the scientists (“Lying”,

2018). It shows that white lies are in fact a form of lying as it is a type of deception, but society

does not condemn the process.

It does not take long for children to learn how to lie, for it “permeates all aspects of

everybody’s lives” (Chambers, 2014). Generally, by the age of five or six, they have learned to

discern the difference between the truth and the lies leading the child to experiment with their

new found knowledge (“Lying”, 2018). Because the recognition is occurring so early, it is on

the parents and society to ensure the next generations do not develop a habit of lying for it would
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further crumble the foundation of honesty laid down currently. Lawrence Kohlberg developed

several stages to represent the moral development individuals go through which encompasses

why people lie and how they react within difference scenarios. Progressively, the stages are

“avoiding punishment, doing right for self-serving reasons, fitting in with and pleasing others,

doing one’s duty, following agreed upon rules, [and] acting on principles” (“Lying”, 2018)).

Each stage provides reasons for why people lie and the mental progression that occurs as

maturity and age develop.

Signs of Lying:

Biologically and physically, there are signs that give away that someone is lying. In a

world filled with deception, being able to distinguish lies from the truth proves beneficial. A

former FBI agent of 30 years uncovers and shares his methods of determining when someone is

lying. A big indicator is eye movement. When eyes “dart back and forth” or “blink rapidly”,

individuals are stressed by the questions and becomes afraid to answer leading to these biological

effects (Gillett & Lee, 2017). Generally, a normal person will blink “five – six in one minute”

but someone who is nervous blinks “five – six times rapidly” (Gillett & Lee, 2017). By focusing

on the eyes, an individual can give away a lot of information about what they are telling to

another individual. Then, further analyzing the eyes, liars have a tendency to cover their mouth

or eyes when they are lying because they want to “cover over a lie” (Nguyen, 2013). However,

it is important to remember with all these signs, that the analyzer needs to comprehend a

subject’s normal tendencies to distinguish the difference between lying and any other time.

Changes that occur in the body because one is lying also lead to noticeable indicators.

When someone becomes uncomfortable and nervous about answering a question, their mouth
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dries out leading to pursed along with throat-clearing or noticeable swallowing (Nguyen, 2013).

Because these signs occur naturally, they are hard to control which leads to proving when

someone is lying. More signs are that the chemicals released when lying causes one to

excessively sweat and start blushing as well. These reactions occur because the “sympathetic

nervous system [causes the] release of adrenaline” heightening the biological factors that are

exposed when one lies (Gillett & Lee, 2017). Signs such as these help society and individuals to

separate the truth from the lies, thereby proving beneficial in any scenario.

Polygraphs:

When most think about lying, their immediate reaction is the popular icon, polygraphs,

that occur in television shows as the method in which to prove someone is not being truthful.

Yet, there is “no evidence that [there] is any pattern of physiological reactions unique to

deception” polygraphs themselves are carry very little validity with them (American

Psychological Association, 2018). A conflicting issue among polygraphs are that the signs

society deems to equate to deception are the same to those of nervous tendencies and anxiety –

both very prevalent reactions to being condemned to a polygraph (Katz, 2013). Therefore,

operating under the assumption everyone presents carbon copy reactions and symptoms when

lying causes the flaws in the system.

Polygraphs themselves test three different areas: heartrate and blood pressure, respiration,

and skin conductivity (American Psychological Association, 2018). In order to measure these

areas, the science community has decided on the different methods. To measure heart rate, they

use a “blood pressure cuff”; to measure respiration, they use pneumographs that “wrap around a

subject’s chest”; to measure skin conductivity, they use “electrodes attached to the subject’s
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fingertips” (American Psychological Association, 2018). While, all aspects are fundamentally

bond in science, the practice of polygraphs falls short of being widely accepted. For example,

within the justice system polygraph results are not mandated to be utilized. Instead, judges

personally choose whether or not they want to use the evidence or not (Katz, 2013). This is

because while not widely accepted, polygraphs do provide information that is hard to come by

and if backed up can strengthen a case. Though it is important to denote that within military

courts, the use of “polygraphs are banned” allowing evidence to be solid without room for error

(Katz, 2013). It is not unknown for people to be place in jail when innocent for a polygraph

declared them to be lying.

Conclusion:

The prevalence of lying within today’s society leaves the fundamental level of honesty to

become shaky. When society lies, it opens the window for individuals to make faulty,

misinformed decisions. Children, with their advanced ability to discover the difference between

the truth and the lies, as well as being able to read between the lies, creates a world susceptible.

The vast usage of lies in everyday life causes the ability to discern the them invaluable for the

skills would create a world more prepared and equipped to deal with the liars while

simultaneously creating a world in which people cannot get away with their lies establishing a

stronger foundation.

Research List:

American Psychological Association. (2018). The truth about lie detectors (aka polygraph tests).

APA. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/research/action/polygraph.aspx.


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Friedman, R. A. (2003, Aug. 5). Behavior; Truth about lies: They tell us a lot about a liar. The

New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/05/health/behavior-

truth-about-lies-they-tell-a-lot-about-a-liar.html.

Gillett, R. & Lee, S. (2017, Nov. 15). You can tell someone’s lying to you by watching their face
– here hare 12 dead giveaways. Business Insider. Retrieved from
http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-tell-someones-lying-by-watching-their-face-
2016-1
Hamers, L. (2016, Mar. 9). Corrupt societies encourage lying. Science. Retrieved from

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/03/corrupt-societies-encourage-lying.

Katz, D. (2013, Jan. 16). Are lie detectors admissible in court? FindLaw. Retrieved from

http://blogs.findlaw.com/blotter/2013/01/are-lie-detectors-admissible-in-court.html.

Kruszelnicki, K. & Bullen, J. (2017, Nov. 14). Why we tell lies. ABC. Retrieved from

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/greatmomentsinscience/why-we-tell-

lies/9148064#transcript.

Lie detection: the science and development of the polygraph. (2018, Mar. 11). Illumin. Retrieved

from http://illumin.usc.edu/43/lie-detection-the-science-and-development-of-the-

polygraph/.

Lying. (2018). Encyclopedia of Children’s Health. Retrieved from http://www.healthofchildren.

com/L/Lying.html

Nguyen, V. (2013, July 25). Former CIA officers share 6 ways to tell if someone’s lying.
Parade. Retrieved from https://parade.com/57236/viannguyen/former-cia-officers-share-
6-ways-to-tell-if-someones-lying/.

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