Why do people lie?

Question

if any

Answer 1

afraid of the truth

Answer 2

I think people lie simply because they are scared of the heartache that the truth might bring to them and the ones they love. Dont get me wrong, a little white lie never hurt anyone. It's the lies that u tell to stay out of trouble but then they backfire on you. Thats the worse ones. Let me give you an example. Me and my girlfriend have been an on and off relationship for about a year now. I believe the only reason it has been on and off is because I told a lie that i thought would help a situation but then of couse, like always, it reversed itself. I cheated on her back in January and things have been downhill ever since. This is our third time together and God only knows if it's gonna work or not. I pray everyday it does though. She is my meaning and without her there's no telling where I'd be right now. She has kept me straight in so many ways that it's hard to keep count. I admire her for that and many other things. But the thing I admire her for the most is giving me another chance and forgiving me for that lie that i told. I know all the trust isn't there yet but I'm working on it and hope it returns to her really soon. So my answer for you is if you're hurt because of a lie someone has told you about a relationship, think about how bad they feel for what they did and how sorry they are. You might wanna give them another chance to redeem their trust and convidence. But I'm gonna leave you with that to think about.
Hyna!

Answer 3

While most human societies have developed moral, ethical or religious codes prohibiting lying it would appear that other animals on this planet engage in lying quite regularly, and that the lie has been the result of and promoted by all the usual evolutionary forces. Specifically, predation often employs lying, as does avoidance of predation. A predator is lying if in the process of acquiring prey it conceals its location, uses camouflage capabilities of its skin and appendages, or dangles an appendage as a bait. A prey is lying if it uses camoflage to conceal itself or make it seem to be larger than it is or seem to be another species that is poisonous or distasteful to the predator (compare viceroy butterfly to monarch butterfly).

Such capabilities to lie likely developed very gradually during evolution and likely began as very small changes in the appearance or behavior of some organisms. As the changes brought advantage to the organism it may therefore have increased in number due to that advantage, and due to continued pressure from a predator or scarcity of prey the advantage locked in and became a trait of that creature.

This incorporation of the lie into schemes of evolutionary advantage is a concept treated in the study of Game Theory of Evolution. Game Theory of Evolution assumes that creatures are often in resource conflict or in predator/prey realtionships with each other and develop strategies for advantage gain or loss reduction. These strategies may or may not be the result of some reasoning capabilities of the creature. In some cases the environment interacting with the way a creature has evolved so far creates the strategies for the creature without it needing any reasoning faculties. In other cases, there may be a combination of some reasoning and some environmentally formed lying abilities. The crocodile seems to know that if it drifts slowly, like a log, towards a wildebeast drinking at the edge of the river the wildebeast will not be alarmed and run away. The crocodile both resembles a log, having been shaped that way by evolutionary forces, and has some reasoning faculties.

Over eons this ability to lie became built into and a natural part of many species. Humans have used the word "cunning" to represent this ability in the non-human animal world, and then when the word "cunning" is applied to a human it is meant to connote sub-human behavior.

Sub-human behavior is of course just a value judgement. The case remains that lying is likely a natural, normal behavior for homo sapiens. People lie to attain advantage or to escape loss. This is no different from being a predator or a prey.

Answer 4

I think its mostly to avoid the consequences of the truth. But for the most part, lies just make a situation more complicated and destroys trust.

Sometime a kind lie is OK under the right circumstances. When its done for the feelings of the other person rather than protecting the liar.

If that makes sense....

Answer 5

parents have to teach their kids lotsa pretty simple stuff yet they do not need to teach them to lie. That should give you the answer right there.. Heard of original sin. As a practical matter there are lotsa reasons. To be well thought of without actually doing the work. To stay out of trouble. To avoid people controling you and stay free. None of these work in the long run. To profit from you as in the con person, this one works look at what our government does. May not work in the end but seems to be working for the last many years. To gain power, to experience lust gratification. and the list goes on.

Answer 6

There are many different reasons why people lie, but lies are not necessarily always harmful. White lies can actually be very useful in uncomfortable, tricky social situations. Sometimes telling the truth can offend or embarrass the other person. So, it is better to find a polite way to avoid the confrontation.

Answer 7

it depends on the person and situation, some lie to avoid hurting others, some lie for their own self preservation/ protection, some do it as a form of entertainment... some are pathological liars and lie about everything!.... but liars are not thought well of in the end - no matter what the reason...

Answer 8

People lie to cover up something that they've done wrong. They lie to protect someones feelings. They lie to make themselves feel better .

I think everyone lies at some point.

Answer 9

Often people lie for money, power and control of gullible minds. One of the biggest lies in humanity is religion. If you are religious, then consider the following.

Who on Earth told you that God exists?

Did your parents tell you that God existed, or your teacher, or preacher, or did you read it in the Bible, or did you just wake up one day and discovered God existed?

Science doesn’t know yet if the universe was created or not. However, if we assume the universe was created, then it’s reasonable to assume there was a creator. That’s as far as science has progressed today. Some of the best brains in the world just don’t know.

Religious people don’t say we hope God exists, and we hope God is good, they state that God definitely does exist and then go on to provide a whole list of supporting evidence they call facts. So if science doesn’t accept religious evidence that God exists, when did you first realise God existed and what supporting evidence do you have if any?

Religious people should stop telling lies, and learn to admit the truth. Religious people don’t know if God exists, they only hope that God exists and the rest of their so called supporting evidence of God’s existence is nothing more than man-made speculative conjecture and wishful thinking - commonly referred to as lies.

So why do religious people lie? They do it for money, power and control of gullible minds, which makes religion evil

Answer 10

I believe people lie because it's harder to tell the truth and live with what may happen.

Answer 11

Self-preservation