Are you a Liar?

I recently found this article on PsychBlog asking the question "Do really lie 3 times within 10 minutes of meeting someone new?" I found this study to be interesting because usually within the first seven steps, seven words, and seven seconds people have already formed an opinion about the new person they met. So this got me thinking what if the new people that we are meeting are not telling us the truth about themselves; hence we are forming incorrect conclusions or judgments about them. Also, what types of lies are these people telling or why are they telling these lies in the first place?

The article refers to a study that was conducted. The study is composed of 121 participants broken down into three groups. These people were told to have a conversation with someone they had never met before for 10 minutes. Each group was given a task or a goal that they were supposed to convey while conversing with this new person. Group 1 was supposed to convey the image that they were competent. Group 2 was supposed to convey the image that they were likeable or outgoing. The last group, Group 3, was supposed to be themselves. They did not have to convey a special message or image. They were video taped while doing this and after the 10 minutes were told to watch the tape and write down how many times they lied and what they lied about . When the study was concluded the results came back that 40% of the participants that were involved in this test had lied in some way or another. The other 60% claim that they did not lie. The approximate number of lies in 10 minutes was just under 3 which is close to the article's key question. Gender also did not play a factor; putting the old adage that men lie more than women to rest.

The lies were catagorized into five groups: feelings, achievements, plans, explanations, and facts. The study showed that lies were generally associated or linked to feelings. Women however were more likely to tell lies about being competent and Men told more lies trying to appear likeable.

The article then talked about the infamous white lie. The key question was is it morally acceptable to tell a white a lie in pro-social environments. Generally when people think of lies they associate them with malicious or harmful things. What about the lies we tell when someone asks us how we're doing and we reply with fine. We automatically say this because we know that the person asking generally doesn't care how we are doing but it is common courtesy to ask. The article later went on to say that without these tiny white lies our social lives would more painful. They also frequently referenced the show House about a doctor who searches for the truth to save his patients lives.

Overall I found this article fascinating and wonder how many times I have been lied to when meeting new people. Or vice versa if I have ever over-exagerated or plain lied to seem more competent or likeable. It is weird how it is acceptable or almost encouraged to lie when it is for a social reason but not acceptable at all for something malicious or bad (for lack of a better word).