Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Kelly Drash
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.
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
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
“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,
“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
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
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
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
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).
Friedman, R. A. (2003, Aug. 5). Behavior; Truth about lies: They tell us a lot about a liar. The
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/.
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/.