Why People Lie!!

The dog ate my homework.
That dress really looks good on you.

LIES…!! We hear them everywhere. Be it from the mouth of a politician glossing over the facts or a desperate student trying to cover up for his night of hedonism and disregard for homework, lies are being told all over the place by just about everybody you can name.

What Is a Lie?

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.
There are generally two types of lies - white lies, which do little or no damage, and black lies, which can do detriment to the deceiver or the deceived when the truth is found out.

The People who Lie

Everybody lies. Admit it - you do as well. There is probably not a single person who has ever lived who has not once in his life told a falsehood or misrepresented the truth, regardless of whether it was unintentional or if he told it so that someone else's feelings would not be hurt - or if he did it for more sinister reasons.
According to Dr John J Busak, Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Neuropsychiatry Center at the University of New Delhi, the pathology of lying is not as simple as it may seem. Investigations have shown that there are those who are genetically predisposed towards lying and deceit. Studies of twins and extended families have suggested that these genetic components are transmitted vertically. Biological conditions such as learning disabilities and certain forms of non-specific cerebral dysfunction have also been associated with pathological lying.

But biology is not the only factor behind lying. The environmental factor in childhood also plays an important role in determining whether or not a person grows up to be a chronic liar. Those who come from chaotic and dysfunctional families have a greater tendency to lie than those who grew up in a caring household. Busak hypothesises that children from such families lie to change or modify reality so as to make life more tolerable - that in this case, lying becomes a strategy of coping with the hostile environment.

Discipline also seems to play a role in encouraging or discouraging lying. Severe punishment for misdemeanours paradoxically encourage deception, as the child realises a need to get out of punishment by any means possible. Inconsistent punishments for lying or the total absence of punishment will also encourage the child to lie. And punishing a child for lying and then getting caught lying yourself will do nothing to help the situation.

Interestingly, it is not only humans who lie - if 'lying' is synonymous with presenting anything other than the truth, be it intentional or unintentional. In fact, lying seems to be something every living creature in this world is familiar with. The bee orchid, for instance, with its bee-like colouring and pattern, lures bees to mate with it, thus propagating its seed to other bee orchids. The angler fish lies at the bottom of the sea, luring prey to it with curious (and probably delicious-looking) protrusions hanging from its head. Butterflies during the Industrial Revolution evolved to become soot-coloured so that they would blend in nicely with their sooty surroundings, thus escaping the jaws of predators. Stick insects do likewise, by appearing to be twigs.

Of course, for the sake of remaining faithful to this topic1, we will stick to deliberate lies told by people in a multitude of situations, and leave the animals alone.