reasons why we lie?

Answers to reasons why we lie

Phil B says "We all lie, but why do we lie? Sure, lying is both useful and sometimes even fun, yet there are fundamental reasons why we lie.

These main reasons are:
   * Fear of harm: The easiest reason to understand why we lie is for self protection, including self deception, to prevent harm to ourselves. This harm can be either physical or mental.

   * Fear of conflict: To some degree, we all fear having an argument.

   * Fear of punishment: When growing up, how often did we lie about how well we did in school, or who started a fight? How often do we cover up our mistakes and transgressions?

   * Fear of rejection: Sometimes, our insecurities are the foundation of why we lie to each other, because we want to be remain popular in our relationships. Typically, it is harmless boasting to make ourselves appear more admirable to other people.

   * Fear of loss: This is usually the loss of personal objects, such as money or expensive valuables. Greed is the foundation for this reason and can be found in each of us. We often lie to make ourselves more desirable to other people too. Most common, people lie for fear of losing an opportunity to have sex. Other times, when our self esteem starts to decline, we even lie to ourselves as means to prevent loss of morale.

   * Altruistic Reasons: We often lie to help our friends and loved ones. How often do we flattery someone just to make them feel better? This is the only selfless reason why we lie.

Despite all the technical reasons why people lie, it all boils down to this:
The fundamental reason why people lie is because it mostly works.

And because lying has become more understood in today’s society, lying has become more acceptable. It has sometimes even become an admirable and useful social skill.

That is the Truth about Lies".

What is Lying?
As always, let’s start with the definition of lying. Merriam-Webster defines lying as:
  1. To make an untrue statement with intent to deceive
  2. To create a false or misleading impression

By the definition it is clear that in order to create a lie there has to be the intent to deceive. Is there some wiggle room then for a falsehood to not be a lie? St. Augustine asks in his treatise: “Who is lying: He who tells a lie and does not deceive or he who tells the truth and deceives?”

Is telling the truth always for the good? What if telling the truth will cause harm or persecution, are we still obligated to tell the truth? Further, the Bible is specific about the sins of lying. If religious traditions hold that rarely, if ever, is a lie permissible what, then, do you do? If there is no will to deceive, will there still be a lie? Are there useful lies?

Disclaimer - Answers to the questions are researched using various sources and are meant to increase the knowledge of our visitors. We cannot gurantee the accuracy of answers to questions.

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