Why Do People Lie

The art of telling a lie is the most ancient art as it came into being with the existence of human beings. Lie can be defined as the delivery of intentional false statement in order to deceive. The sole reason behind this act is to hide the truth and mislead the other person. This is such an act from which nobody can restrain. Some uses this art at the time of utmost need, and some uses it habitually.

Discussion

Lying has become a very common practice, at some points we all lie, and we cannot even restrain ourselves from this practice. Now it depends on the situations why do people need to go for it. Do they lie in order to make someone feel good or they do so in order to mislead? People infrequently involved in this habit because they fear of being wrong and they will not be liked by others. As humans we have this innate characteristic that we never accept ourselves as bad or unworthy (Griffith, p.a1-2). There are a number of reasons behind practicing this behavior. Three primary causes of telling a lie are:

1. Hiding information: people mainly lie in order to hide the truth and covering up the information that may cause conflicts or confrontations. People sometimes are prone to this habit because they do not want to hurt the feelings of their loved ones. They believe that everything will go unnoticed then why should they rock the boat.

2. Habit: for some people lying is a habit in their lives to cope up with the intolerable situations. This habit develops like many other habits. People who are habitual of this practice have the roots from their childhood. They get involved in such habits in order to cope up the unpleasant atmosphere that may create after speaking the truth. They feel safe in telling lies and avoid confessing their blunders. Psychologists term habitual liars as Pseudologia fantastica.

3. Attention: attention seekers use this practice in order to attract people towards them. They consider this habit as a powerful tool to get attention, power and respect. They create stories in order to entice people. Such people can also be termed as sociopaths.

4. Exaggeration: some people have a habit of exaggerating things. They love making a cocktail of truths and lies. They think that they can grab people's attention by overstating events and conversations. Psychologists have named this condition as Mythomania where people feel an urge for exaggeration and lying.

The seeds of this negative behavior grow from the early childhood while people are in their schools. A person is never taught to lie. Sometimes there are some reasons which reinforce people to lie because they are not left with any other option. If we talk about a school going child, he must have lied due to procrastination in homework. At that time they make small excuse but once they go through it, they feel inclined to do it next time ...