Why do people speak lies?

1. 60

   Vegas Eliasposted 13 years ago

   Why do people speak lies?
   
   I know children speak lies due to fear of being punished. However I know even of adults who speak unnecessary lies which are totally unwarranted. Can anyone explain to me why these people speak lies?

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2. 60

   Rhonda D Johnsonposted 13 years ago

   Better yet, why do people get upset when they hear the truth? Demand that I tell the truth, then get bent out of shape when I do?  Insist that they have the truth, but offer no evidence to support this?  If I knew the answer, I'd be a millionaire.

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3. 76

   DreamerMegposted 13 years ago

   What is truth? One person's view of something may be different from another's. What one says is not necessarily a lie, even though it may not appear to be correct from the other person's point of view. If there are various opinions on something, then one opinion cannot be a lie. If you are talking about FACTS, then someone could be mistaken. And even adults may be afraid of punishment, for instance of being prosecuted. They may not want to hurt someone else's feelings. There is also, of course, greed and the need to be liked and admired. So many reasons for seeing things differently from someone else or for saying that a fact is one thing when it is another.

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4. 79

   Seeker7posted 13 years ago

   I think there are many reasons for people telling lies. Some tell lies to deliberately deceive.  Others tell lies so that the truth about them or a situation won't be found out. There are other people who sometimes believe a lie will spare a loved one's feelings. There are also adults who due to extreme lack of self-confidence about themselves/environment/work  will tell lies perhaps to build themselves up in the eyes of others and to try and get across to other people that they are the same as them, so hiding their true feelings of lack of confidence. You also get habitual liers who, because they feel so inadequate overall in society, will tell lies frequently in order to paint a picture of themselves different to what they are, and might also tell lies to get them out of situations that they always seem to find themselves in - i know one man like this who I worked with. He was so accident prone in our work's kitchen and when anything got broken for example, he would tell a lie about how the accident happened.

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