Lie

This article is about untruthfulness. For other uses, see Lie (disambiguation).

A lie (also called prevarication, falsehood) is a type of deception in the form of an untruthful statement, especially with the intention to deceive others.

To lie is to state something with disregard to the truth with the intention that people will accept the statement as truth.

A liar is a person who is lying, who has previously lied, or who tends by nature to lie repeatedly - even when not necessary.

Lying is typically used to refer to deceptions in oral or written communication. Other forms of deception, such as disguises or forgeries, are generally not considered lies, though the underlying intent may be the same. However, even a true statement can be used to deceive. In this situation, it is the intent of being overall untruthful rather than the truthfulness of any individual statement that is considered the lie. As in the boy who cried wolf.

Serious lies (such as perjury, fraud, and defamation) are punishable by law.

Classification

Types of lie

The various types of lies include the following:

Big Lie

Main article: Big Lie

A lie which attempts to trick the victim into believing something major which will likely be contradicted by some information the victim already possesses, or by their common sense. When the lie is of sufficient magnitude it may succeed due to the victim's reluctance to believe that an untruth on such a grand scale would indeed be fabricated.

Bluffing

To bluff is to pretend to have a capability or intention one does not actually possess. Bluffing is an act of deception that is rarely seen as immoral when it takes place in the context of a game where this kind of deception is consented to in advance by the players. For instance, a gambler who deceives other players into thinking he has different cards to those he really holds, or an athlete who hints he will move left and then dodges right is not considered to be lying (also known as a feint or juke). In these situations, deception is acceptable and is commonly expected as a tactic.

Barefaced lie

A barefaced (or bald-faced) lie is one that is obviously a lie to those hearing it. The phrase comes from 17th-century British usage referring to those without facial hair as being seen as particularly forthright and outwardly honest, and therefore more likely to get away with telling a significant lie. A variation that has been in use almost as long is bold-faced lie, referring to a lie told with a straight and confident face (hence "bold-faced"), usually with the corresponding tone of voice and emphatic body language of one confidently speaking the truth. Bold-faced Lie can also refer to misleading or inaccurate newspaper headlines, but this usage appears to be a more recent appropriation of the term.

Contextual lie

One can state part of the truth out of context, knowing that without complete information, it gives a false impression. Likewise, one can actually state accurate facts, yet deceive with them. To say "Yeah, that's right, I ate all the white chocolate, by myself." utilizing a sarcastic, offended tone, may cause the listener to assume the speaker did not mean what he said, when in fact he did.

Economical with the truth

Main article: economical with the truth

Economical with the truth is popularly used as a euphemism for deceit, whether by volunteering false information (i.e., lying) or by deliberately holding back relevant facts. More literally, it describes a careful use of facts so as not to reveal too much information, as in speaking carefully.

Emergency lie

An emergency lie is a strategic lie told when the truth may not be told because, for example, harm to a third party would result. For example, a neighbor might lie to an enraged wife about the whereabouts of her unfaithful husband, because said wife might reasonably be expected to inflict physical injury should she encounter her husband in person. Alternatively, an emergency lie could denote a (temporary) lie told to a second person because of the presence of a third.

Exaggeration

Main article: exaggeration

An exaggeration (or hyperbole) occurs when the most fundamental aspects of a statement are true, but only to a certain degree. It is also seen as "stretching the truth" or making something appear more powerful, meaningful, or real than it actually is.

Fabrication

A fabrication is a lie told when someone submits a statement as truth, without knowing for certain whether or not it actually is true. Although the statement may be possible or plausible, it is not based on fact. Rather, it is something made up, or it is a misrepresentation of the truth. Examples of fabrication: A person giving directions to a tourist when the person doesn't actually know the directions. Often propaganda is fabrication.

Jocose lie

Jocose (cf. jocular) lies are lies meant in jest, intended to be understood as such by all present parties. Teasing and sarcasm are examples. A more elaborate instance is seen in some storytelling traditions, where the humour comes from the storyteller's insistence that the story is the absolute truth, despite all evidence to the contrary (i.e., tall tale). There is debate about whether these are "real" lies, and different philosophers hold different views (see below).

The Crick Crack Club in London organise a yearly 'Grand Lying Contest' with the winner being awarded the coveted "Hodja Cup" (named for the Mulla Nasreddin: "The truth is something I have never spoken."). The winner in 2010 was Hugh Lupton

Lie-to-children

Main article: Lie-to-children

A lie-to-children is a lie, often a platitude, which may use euphemism(s), which is told to make an adult subject acceptable to children. Common examples include "The stork brought you" (in reference to childbirth) and the existence of Santa Claus, Tooth Fairy or the Easter Bunny.

Lying by obsolete signage

Examples are the continued use of old stationery that has printed information such as a previous telephone number, or advertising that remains painted on a wall after an enterprise has ceased business.

Lying by omission

One lies by omission when omitting an important fact, deliberately leaving another person with a misconception. Lying by omission includes failures to correct pre-existing misconceptions. Also known as a continuing misrepresentation. An example is when the seller of a car declares it has been serviced regularly but does not tell that a fault was reported at the last service.

Lying in trade

The seller of a product or service may advertise untrue facts about the product or service in order to gain sales, especially by competitive advantage. Many countries have enacted Consumer protection laws intended to combat such fraud. An example is the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act that holds a seller liable for omission of any material fact that the buyer relies upon.

Lying through your teeth

When one lies face-to-face with the intended recipient. This also may be an expression describing the act of lying with a smile or other patronizing tone or body language.

Misleading/dissembling

Main article: misleading

A misleading statement is one where there is no outright lie, but still retains the purpose of getting someone to believe in an untruth. "Dissembling" likewise describes the presentation of facts in a way that is literally true, but intentionally misleading.

Noble lie

Main article: noble lie

A noble lie is one that would normally cause discord if uncovered, but offers some benefit to the liar and assists in an orderly society, therefore, potentially beneficial to others. It is often told to maintain law, order and safety.

Perjury

Main article: perjury

Perjury is the act of lying or making verifiably false statements on a material matter under oath or affirmation in a court of law, or in any of various sworn statements in writing. Perjury is a crime, because the witness has sworn to tell the truth and, for the credibility of the court to remain intact, witness testimony must be relied on as truthful.

Puffery

Main article: puffery

Puffery is an exaggerated claim typically found in advertising and publicity announcements, such as "the highest quality at the lowest price," or "always votes in the best interest of all the people." Such statements are unlikely to be true - but cannot be proven false and so do not violate trade laws, especially as the consumer is expected to be able to tell that it is not the absolute truth.

White lie

White lies are minor lies which could be considered to be harmless, or even beneficial, in the long term. White lies are also considered to be used for greater good. A common version of a white lie is to tell only part of the truth, therefore not be suspected of lying, yet also conceal something else, in order to avoid awkward questions.

Augustine's taxonomy of lies

Augustine of Hippo wrote two books about lying: On Lying (De Mendacio) and Against Lying (Contra Mendacio). He describes each book in his later work, Retractions. Based on the location of De Mendacio in Retractions, it appears to have been written about A.D. 395. The first work, On Lying, begins: "Magna quæstio est de Mendacio" (There is a great question about Lying). From his text, it can be derived that St. Augustine divided lies into eight categories, listed in order of descending severity:

• Lies in religious teaching.
• Lies that harm others and help no one.
• Lies that harm others and help someone.
• Lies told for the pleasure of lying.
• Lies told to "please others in smooth discourse."
• Lies that harm no one and that save someone's life.
• Lies that harm no one and that save someone's "purity."
• Lies that harm no one and that help someone.

Augustine wrote that lies told in jest, or by someone who believes or opines the lie to be true are not, in fact, lies.

Love and war

The cliché "All is fair in love and war" finds justification for lies used to gain advantage in these situations. Sun Tzu declared that "All warfare is based on deception." Machiavelli advised in The Prince "never to attempt to win by force what can be won by deception," and Thomas Hobbes wrote in Leviathan: "In war, force and fraud are the two cardinal virtues."

Psychology of lying

The capacity to lie is noted early and nearly universally in human development. Social psychology and developmental psychology are concerned with the theory of mind, which people employ to simulate another's reaction to their story and determine if a lie will be believable. The most commonly cited milestone, what is known as Machiavellian intelligence, is at the age of about four and a half years, when children begin to be able to lie convincingly. Before this, they seem simply unable to comprehend why others don't see the same view of events that they do — and seem to assume that there is only one point of view, which is their own.

Young children learn from experience that stating an untruth can avoid punishment for misdeeds, before they develop the theory of mind necessary to understand why it works. In this stage of development, children will sometimes tell outrageous and unbelievable lies, because they lack the conceptual framework to judge whether a statement is believable, or even to understand the concept of believability.

When children first learn how lying works, they lack the moral understanding of when to refrain from doing it. This takes years of watching people tell lies, and the results of these lies, to develop a proper understanding. Propensity to lie varies greatly between children, some doing so habitually and others being habitually honest. Habits in this regard are likely to change in early adulthood.

Those with Parkinson's disease show difficulties in deceiving others, difficulties that link to prefrontal hypometabolism. This suggests a link between the capacity for dishonesty and integrity of prefrontal functioning.

Pseudologia fantastica is a term applied by psychiatrists to the behaviour of habitual or compulsive lying.

Mythomania is the condition where there is an excessive or abnormal propensity for lying and exaggerating.

A recent study found that lying takes longer than telling the truth. Or, as Chief Joseph succinctly put it, "It does not require many words to speak the truth."

Morality of lying

Aristotle believed no general rule on lying was possible, because anybody who advocated lying could never be believed, he said. The philosophers Saint Augustine, as well as St. Thomas Aquinas and Immanuel Kant, condemned all lying. However, Thomas Aquinas also had an argument for lying. According to all three, there are no circumstances in which one may lie. One must be murdered, suffer torture, or endure any other hardship, rather than lie, even if the only way to protect oneself is to lie. Each of these philosophers gave several arguments against lying, all compatible with each other. Among the more important arguments are:

1. Lying is a perversion of the natural faculty of speech, the natural end of which is to communicate the thoughts of the speaker.
2. When one lies, one undermines trust in society.

Meanwhile, Utilitarian philosophers have supported lies which achieve good outcomes - white lies. In his 2008 book How to Make Good Decisions and Be Right All the Time, Iain King suggested a credible rule on lying was possible, and defined it as: Deceive only if you can change behaviour in a way worth more than the trust you would lose, were the deception discovered (whether the deception actually is exposed or not).

Belief systems

It is alleged that some belief systems may find lying to be justified. Leo Tolstoy is cited as describing religious institutions as "the product of deception [and] lies for a good purpose".

Lying in the Bible

The Old Testament and New Testament of the Bible both contain statements that God cannot lie (Num 23:19, Hab. 2:3, Heb 6:13–18). However, what would be perceived as examples of God lying can be found in both testaments (2 Thes 2:11, 1 Kings 22:23, Ezek. 14:9).

• "For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie " (2 Thessalonians 2:11)
• "So now the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouths of all these prophets of yours. The LORD has decreed disaster for you." (Kings 22:23)
• "'And if a prophet is deceived into giving a message, it is because I, the LORD, have deceived that prophet. I will lift my fist against such prophets and cut them off from the community of Israel." (Ezek. 14:9)

Various passages of the Bible feature exchanges that are conditionally critical of lying (Prov 6:16–19, Ps. 5:6), (Lev 19:11, Pr. 14:5, Pr. 30:6, Zep 3:13 ), (Isa 28:15, Da 11:27). Most famously, in the Ten Commandments: "Thou shalt not bear false witness" (Exodus 20:2–17, Deuteronomy 5:6–21), Ex. 23.1 · Mt. 19.18 · Mk. 10.19 · Lk. 18.20 a specific reference to perjury.

Other passages feature exchanges where lying seems to be conditionally promoted. (However some Christians would argue that lying is never promoted, but that even those who are righteous in God's eyes sin sometimes.) Old Testament accounts of lying include:

• Rahab lied to the king of Jericho about hiding the Hebrew spies (Joshua 2:4–5) and was not killed with those who were disobedient because of her faith (Hebrews 11:31).
• Delilah repeatedly accused Samson of lying to her (Jg. 16:10, 13) as she interrogated him about the source of his strength.
• Abraham instructs his wife, Sarah, to lie to the Egyptians and say that she is his sister (Gen 12:10), which leads to the Lord punishing the Egyptians (Gen 12:17–19). However, it can be argued that this was not actually a lie as she was, in fact, his half-sister (During the time of Abraham, it was not unheard of for one to marry their half-brother or half-sister). Regardless, Sarah was knowingly omitting the fact that she was Abraham's wife—a lie of omission.

In the New Testament, Jesus refers to the Devil as the father of lies (John 8:44) and Paul commands Christians "Do not lie to one another" (Colossians 3:9, Cf.Leviticus 19:11). St. John the Revelator reports that God said "..all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." [Rev 21:8]

Lying in the Qur'an

The Qur'an says that God (Allah), knows the secrets of all peoples hearts and when somebody lies. Therefore according to the Qur'an, God cannot be fooled by lies and those who lie not only destroy their souls but the lie will be destroyed by the truth. Liars will be called to account on the Day of Judgement and God will not guide them. In at least three different places, Quran 45:7, 51:10 and 52:11, the Qur'an indicates that liars will suffer.

The following are particularly noted for punishment: idolaters (liars against God), liars who disunite believers, those who lie that all good things are for themselves, hypocrites, those who lie against God when invited to Islam or who treat God's signs as falsehoods.

Lying in Buddhism

Lying is forbidden by the fourth of the Five Precepts, the fundamental ethical training rules for all Buddhists. "For a liar who has violated the one law (of truthfulness) who holds in scorn the hereafter, there is no evil that he cannot do"

Lying in Paganism

In Gestaþáttr, one of the sections within the Eddaic poem Hávamál, Odin states that it is advisable, when dealing with "a false foe who lies," to tell lies oneself.

Consequences of lying

Once a lie has been told there can be two alternative consequences: it may be discovered or remain undiscovered.

Under some circumstances, discovery of a lie may discredit other statements by the same speaker and can lead to social or legal sanctions against the speaker, such as ostracizing or conviction for perjury. When a lie is discovered, the state of mind and behaviour of the lie teller (liar) is no longer predictable.

The discoverer of a lie may also be convinced or coerced to collaborate with the liar, becoming part of a conspiracy. They may actively propagate the lie to other parties, actively prevent the lie's discovery by other parties, or simply omit publicising the lie (a secondary lie of omission).

Deception and lies in other species

The capacity to lie has also been claimed to be possessed by non-humans in language studies with great apes. Even Koko, the gorilla made famous for learning American Sign Language has been caught red handed. After tearing a steel sink from the wall in the middle of a tantrum, she signed to her handlers that a cat did it, while she pointed to her kitten. It is unclear if this was a joke or a genuine attempt at blaming her tiny pet. Deceptive body language, such as feints that mislead as to the intended direction of attack or flight, is observed in many species including wolves. A mother bird deceives when it pretends to have a broken wing to divert the attention of a perceived predator — including unwitting humans — from the eggs in its nest to itself, most notably the killdeer.

Paradoxes about lying

Within any scenario where dualistic (e.g., yes/no, black/white) answers are always given, a person who we know is consistently lying would paradoxically be a source of truth. There are many such paradoxes, the most famous being known as the liar paradox, commonly expressed as "This sentence is a lie", or "This sentence is false". The so-called Epimenides paradox ("All Cretans are liars", as stated by Epimenides the Cretan) is a forerunner of this, though its status as a paradox is disputed. A class of related logic puzzles are known as knights and knaves, in which the goal is to determine who of a group of people is lying and who is telling the truth.

Lie detection

Main article: Lie detection

Some people may be better "lie detectors" than others, better able to distinguish a lie by facial expression, cadence of speech, certain movements, and other methods. According to David J. Lieberman, PhD, in Never Be Lied to Again: How to Get the Truth in Five Minutes or Less in Any Conversation or Situation, these methods can be learned. Some methods of questioning may be more likely to elicit the truth, for instance: "When was the last time you smoked marijuana?" (a leading question) is more likely to get a truthful answer than "Do you smoke pot?" Asking the question most likely to get the information you want is a skill and can be learned. Avoiding vague questioning will help avoid lies of omission or vagueness.

The question of whether lies can reliably be detected through nonverbal means is a subject of some controversy.

• Polygraph "lie detector" machines measure the physiological stress a subject endures in a number of measures while he/she gives statements or answers questions. Spikes in stress are purported to indicate lying. The accuracy of this method is widely disputed, and in several well-known cases it was proven to have been deceived. Nonetheless, it remains in use in many areas, primarily as a method for eliciting confessions or employment screening. Polygraph results are not admissible as court evidence and are generally perceived to be pseudoscience.
• Various truth drugs have been proposed and used anecdotally, though none are considered very reliable. The CIA attempted to find a universal "truth serum" in the MK-ULTRA project, but it was an overall failure.
• A recent study found that lying takes longer than telling the truth, and thus the time to answer a question may be used as a method of lie detection. However, it has also been shown that instant-answers can be proof of a prepared lie. The only compromise is to try to surprise the victim and find a midway answer, not too quick, nor too long.

Dr. Paul Ekman and Dr. Maureen O'Sullivan spent several decades studying people's ability to spot deception in a study called the Wizards Project. They studied police officers, psychologists, judges, lawyers, the CIA, FBI and the Secret Service. After studying nearly 20,000 people, they identified just over 50 people who can spot deception with great accuracy. They call these people "Truth Wizards".

Dr. Freitas-Magalhaes developed the ForensicPsy and the Psy7Faces to read lies by facial expressions.

Representations of lying in fiction

Close-up of the bronze statue depicting a walking Pinocchio, named Walking to Borås by Jim Dine

• The Adventures of Baron Munchausen tell the story about an 18th century baron who tells outrageous, unbelievable stories, which he claims are all true.
• The Invention of Lying is a 2009 movie depicting the fictitious invention of the first lie, starring Ricky Gervais, Jennifer Garner, Rob Lowe, and Tina Fey.
• A famous anecdote by Parson Weems claims that George Washington once cut a tree over when he was a small child. His father asked him who cut the tree and Washington confessed his crime with the words: "I'm sorry, father, I cannot tell a lie." The anecdote has been proven to be a completely fictional story.
• Carlo Collodi's Pinocchio was a wooden puppet often led into trouble by his propensity to lie. His nose grew with every lie; hence, long noses have become a caricature of liars.
• The Boy Who Cried Wolf, a fable attributed to Aesop about a boy who continually lies a wolf is coming. When a wolf does appear nobody believes him anymore.
• In the film Liar Liar, the lawyer Fletcher Reede (Jim Carrey) cannot lie for 24 hours, due to a wish of his son that magically came true.
• Larry-Boy! And the Fib from Outer Space! was mostly about lying and telling the truth.
• In the 1985 Max Headroom, the title character comments that one can always tell when a politician lies because "their lips move". The joke has been widely repeated and rephrased.
• In the film Big Fat Liar, the story producer Marty Wolf (a notorious and proud liar himself) steals from student Jason Shepard, tells of a character whose lies become out of control to the point where each lie he tells causes him to grow in size.
• Lie to Me, a TV series based on behaviour analysts who read lies through facial expressions and body language. The protagonists, Dr Cal Lightman and Dr Gillian Foster are based on the above-mentioned Dr Paul Ekman and Dr Maureen O'Sullivan.
• The Sky Is Falling, similar to The Boy Who Cried Wolf, is the story of Chicken Little, an alarmist little chicken who claims that the sky is falling. This differs from The Boy Who Cried Wolf in that Chicken Little's fabrication is the result of a misinterpretation of the facts which he believes to be true.

Covering up lies

Sir Walter Scott's famous couplet "Oh, what a tangled web we weave / When first we practice to deceive!" describes the often difficult procedure of covering up a lie so that it is not detected in the future.

In Human, All Too Human, philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche suggested that those who refrain from lying may do so only because of the difficulty involved in maintaining the lie. This is consistent with his general philosophy that divides (or ranks) people according to strength and ability; thus, some people tell the truth only out of weakness.

See also

2

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