Unbelievable Facts About Lies And Deception
“Anything is better than lies and deceit!”—Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
The world is full of lies and the liars who tell them. Chances are if we aren’t telling a lie, we’re probably falling for one. A lot of research has been done on dishonesty, probably because we’re always hoping that we won’t fall for it the next time. Unfortunately, even with all we know about lying, it’s still really hard to catch liars. Worse—some of the stuff we’ve heard about lies are lies themselves (lie-ception, woooah). Let’s not lie to ourselves, we’re all a little fascinated by dishonesty. Here are 42 facts about lies and deception to help scratch that itch for knowledge.
1. Honest Healthy Living
According to a study done by the University of Notre Dame, telling the truth can improve your health. The study found that telling fewer lies per week improved both mental health and physical health. Participants who told fewer or no lies reported fewer complaints such as feeling tense and having headaches, compared to the control group which was allowed to continue lying. Telling the truth isn’t only good for your soul, it’s good for your body too!
2. A Liar Born Every Minute
60% of people lie at least once in ten-minute conversations, according to a study published in the Journal of Basic and Applied Social Psychology. According to the research, people do this because they want to be likeable and viewed as competent. This means that during even a brief conversation someone’s probably telling a lie or two.
3. The Doctor is In
Even in places where we’re encouraged to be honest and truthful—like a therapists office—we still choose to lie. According to a survey done by the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, 52% of psychotherapists have been lied to, or suspect they’ve been lied to, by their clients. Why do we do it in therapy? A different study done by Wake Forest University says it’s because we feel ashamed and don’t want our therapist to judge us.
4. Nature vs Nurture
According to Dr. Melba Vasquez, a therapist in Austin Texas, "The ability to be honest requires either good modeling in families or having developed good mental health;" the truth quite literally starts in the home. For people who don’t grow up with good modeling, or haven’t developed good mental health, lying is a way to cope.
