Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Essay on why people lie
Essay on why people lie
The causes and effects of telling lies
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Essay on why people lie
“According to the article Ten Things You Didn’t Know About Lying, People lie at least once every day, and a majority of those that lie thinking that they can escape with it nearly all the time (Annalee Newitz and Joseph Bennington-Castro).” A majority of people lie in many different situations; feel that we should not tell the truth. At times people have protective dishonesties, people feel there are certain human principles that surpass the mistake of lying. Most of the time, whenever people lie, they usually want to escape responsibility for their circumstances that makes it necessary. To increase confidence by means of others for themselves as a person or things that we keep privacy on. To create an identity for ourselves and to save their …show more content…
When people lie they usually feel like they need to fill something they are missing, especially when they lie about personal possessions or lie about a quantity or quality of something that is really a lot less than what it actually is. These types of people boost their own self esteem by “blowing up” the truth into something greater. This helps them feel better about themselves, even though it is a false statement and obviously a lie. These lies don’t last long because especially with our technology and social media connections we easily find out the truth. We are a lot more aware than we were the past hundred years and are way more skeptical and quickly “Google” or look someone up so easily. Even if people lie, we can easily find out the truth about them and this quick, temporary boost usually is squashed. Once a person or group of people lie like this, and it is found out their reputation is lost and they are usually labeled as untrustworthy. Untrustworthiness ruins their self-esteem and confidence about themselves and others in the end, so it is best to stay away from this type of …show more content…
This is also a way people can many times just simply want to run away.An example, lying towards the person you have been in love with for cheating on him/her. This is also a way people can many times just simply want to run away. We do not usually like fight anyone. Most humans do not like pain. We do not like emotional or physical pain. If we lie, it can work out if the other people do not find out. If people do not find out, we are in the clear and are free from the consequences. The reality is that most people use a search when they try to look for information about someone or something on the Internet using the search engine and can easily find out the truth and the
Richard Gunderman and Stephanie Ericsson each have written a piece explaining the impacts of lying on society. In Gunderman’s article, “Is Lying Bad for Us?” he outlines the health effects of lying, and how there are serious “mental and physical consequences,” (Gunderman 1). Ericsson’s essay, “The Ways We Lie,” focuses more on the different types of lying, and how each has a different impact. Although Gunderman’s and Ericsson’s pieces of literature both relate to the negative impacts of lying, their different thoughts of how lying impacts society, including types, health, and solutions, outweigh their similarities.
Lying is bad but the fear that can come from it is worse. Fear can rule a person which drives them to extreme and irrational acts that can shape society in a negative way. We as people are so accustomed to how we should act that during times of fear and crisis our vision is blurred and sometimes our decision making abilities are impaired. We often look past at how much fear can affect us and our society. Starting from Salem 1692 and going to the McCarthy era fear ruled the people and even now in present time America we are constantly living in fear.
The people who claim that they do not lie are probably lying when they say it. Whether it is to deceive authority or just to play a joke on a friend, it is part of human nature to lie. In the novel The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby takes on a character of wealth and luxury. Gatsby wants to win back his love interest from five years ago, so he secretly becomes wealthy through owning an illegal drug business, using his abundance of money to impress her. In contrast, in Tobias Wolff’s “The Liar,” he tells a story of teenage James as he lies about his life to appear more fascinating. He lies not because he wants to, but because it comes naturally to him. Both stories convey people struggling to find the purpose of their
Stephanie Ericsson’s The Ways We Lie, analyzes and reflects on how lying has simply become the norm in our society. We all lie, there is not one person in the world that does not lie. Most people lie because they are afraid of telling the truth, however what they do not know is telling a lie can lead them in the wrong direction because many things can happen when lying to a person. The person can find out when everything unravels that person will not have trust in you and you would be known as a liar. To every action there is a consequence, so why not deal with just one consequence when telling the
In “The Ways We Lie” by Stephanie Ericsson, the author uses her knowledge to talk about the different ways of lies and how those lies affect the liar, as well as the people who had been told lies. According to the author’s essay, there are 10 types of lies that people encounter every single day: the White Lie, Facades, Ignoring the Plain Facts, Deflecting, Omission, Stereotypes and Cliches, Groupthink, Out-and-Out Lies, Dismissal, and Delusion. Throughout the essay, it is connoted that people are lying in various ways even though they are not intended to. I had been taught that lying is a bad habit. According to Ericsson, there are many types of lie and I did three of them in my life: the White Lie, Omission, and Out-and-Out Lies; however, I can defend my lies for good purposes.
These types of lies are easily distributed in society by the masses because they sound harmless. Lies aren’t only bad, but they come with a high price. That price is trust, once someone’s trust is broken it takes a lot of time to get it back. “Trust is one thing you can’t put back together once it’s broken” (Berenstain 17).
The article, “Is Lying Bad for Us,” accurately describes the intentions of a “liar.” The author says, “Though liars do not tell the truth, they care about it, while the bullshitter does not even care about the truth and seeks merely to impress” (Gunderman). This statement proves that lying should not be viewed as out of the ordinary, or unacceptable, and that liars should not be viewed as bad people. Lying can be shown as a way of protecting or caring
We all lie in one way or another. Whether it is a simple white lie about how someone really looks or blaming someone else for something we really did, we all have lied. In Stephanie Ericsson’s essay, “The Ways We Lie”, she explains the ways people lie in order to get what they want, to stay out of trouble, or just to hide from the cold hard truth. Ericsson explains how is it nearly impossible to go without telling a lie and how lies affect others. After evaluating Ericsson’s essay on the many ways we lie, I can say I am most guilty of the telling whites and lying by omission.
We lie all the time, lying is not something new to our culture. We lie to our parents, we lie to our friends, we even lie to our significant other, but why do we do it? There is not one set reason on why we lie but they can vary from an insignificant reason to something more nefarious. A good operational definition of a lie is “A lie is a false statement to a person or group made by another person or group who knows it is not the whole truth, intentionally.” (Freitas-Magalhães) We have been raised to know that lying is usually a bad thing, and it’s better to tell the truth, not to mention the circumstances get exponentially worse if you are caught lying. No one wants to be labeled as a liar, or untrustworthy. This may sound unorthodox but I personally think lying is perfectly fine; depending on the situation. If you have a prima-facie duty to be dishonest it’s perfectly acceptable. Ross says a prima facie duty or obligation is an actual duty. “One’s actual duty is what one ought to do all things considered.” (Carson) I’m not the only one who finds this too be true. Ross would also agree with me, He says “Lying is permissible or obligatory when the duty not to lie conflicts with a more important or equal important prima facie duty.” (Carson) As I was doing research on this topic I did read one extremely compelling argument on why we ought not to lie. Aristotle basically said a person who makes a defense for lying could never be trusted. (King.)
This type of lie is probably the nicest type of lie, in my opinion. This lie is told to achieve some good by telling a lie that will enhance or help the person that is being lied to or lied about. An example of this could be when you “like” someone’s picture or status on Facebook even if you don’t really like it. Some people just click “like” to make the person feel comfortable about posting it or
Telling the truth teaches one person self- respect for themselves and others as well. Telling the truth also sets a good example for others to do the same thing and make a “chain reaction”. People can make a “chain reaction” by passing on what they have done from one person to another, and before you know it, everyone is changing greatly, and the world is progressing tremendously. Lies are told all around the world, and they are told every day. One lie can often lead to another lie and cause you to be caught up in one big lie that will be hard to get out of if people do not tell the truth. If a person thinks that is okay to lie, they better think again, the truth always comes out no matter how hard a person tries to keep it in, or how much someone thinks that they can get away with lying. No person can keep in or hold a grudge with what they have done. After all, telling the truth is the right thing to do, and everyone should do it. Telling the truth is always much easier than the trouble of a
Liars have rumors spread around about how they lie all the time. Nobody wants to talk to them because they won't know if they are lying to them or not. They aren't trusted as much as people who don't lie. Liars never get very far in life and always have a reputation of lying. It's much better to tell the truth and have friends who trust them, rather than lying and having rumors spread around making no one like them.
Can you remember the last time someone lied to you? Or how about the last time you lied to someone else? Did you ever stop and ask yourself why? There are so many different reasons that a person might lie. Maybe a lie about something to keep oneself out of trouble, or even a lie to impress other people. But either way there are always going to be serious consequences or effects of lying.
In certain circumstances and situations, I truly believe it is ok to lie. Initially, it is extremely beneficial to lie, rather than hurt the feelings of a loved one. Equally important, if you are trying to protect someone from getting impaired, it is okay to lie in order to keep them safe. Last but not least, exaggerations can help boost people’s self-esteem by making them exceptional. William Blake once said “A truth that's told with bad intent beats all the lies you can invent.” I urge you to question if honesty is really the best route, or is it okay to lie sometimes.
Almost everyone, eventually, will lie. Actually, a few people, dismal to state, lie constantly. Even the youngest children will lie, particularly because they think by lying they will not be disciplined for their actions.