Why People Lie - and The Psychology of Lying What Motivates Lying - Research, Statistics and Resources In previous articles we have discussed various techniques for detecting lies. But, what motivates people to lie? Psychologist Robert Feldman cites self-esteem as one of the biggest culprits in our lying ways: We find that as soon as people feel that their self- esteem is threatened, they immediately begin to lie at higher levels. Feldman believes many lies are simply for the purpose of maintaining social contacts by avoiding insults or discord. Small lies that avoid conflict are probably the most common sort of lie...and avoiding conflict is a top motivator for deception. For example: someone lying about traffic holding them up, rather than sleeping in... or a no, you look great in those pants -- both sorts of lies achieve the effect of avoiding social conflict. They are make life easier kinds of lies. Back to the self-esteem angle: The farther ones true self is from their ideal self, the more likely they are to lie to boost themselves up, in others eyes or their eyes... or perhaps how they perceive others to perceive them. Hmmm... that is a hard train of thought to follow, but lying is a complex phenomenon.Why do you think people lie
Posted on: Sat, 17 Jan 2015 09:20:57 +0000
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