The Psychology of Lies

 People, on average, lie two to three times for every 10 minutes of conversation (Smith). In The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, Christoher Boone has a difficult time with lies. From sarcastic comments to a complex web of lies, Christopher struggles to make sense of them. This is because his aspergers gets in the way of his ability to recognize lies. It seems that throughout the novel, everyone has a natural inclination to lie. An explanation for this is that lying is an intricate aspect of human nature.

Many great philosophers have debated whether lying is morally just. They answer this question by asking whether there is still a need for lies now that the human race has progressed. Plato argued that lies must be told by the rulers of a society in order to keep harmony. He also thought that the context matters when considering if a lie is virtuous or not. In this view, Plato was willing to let the masses live in a false reality in order for there not to be an uprising. In contrast, St. Augustine thought no lie can be tolerated. This view is shared by Emmanuel Kant who believed a lie is an assault on morality because it treats people as means instead of humans. Kant’s view opposes human’s urge to get ahead of their competition by any means necessary. Hugo Grotius had an interesting take on lying. He thought something could only be considered a lie if it was harmful (Smith). By Grotius’ definition a white lie would not actually be a lie. Where this idea gets complicated is when a lie harms one person for the greater good of society. Lying is not an issue of right and wrong. There will always be debate about what a lie is and whether they are acceptable.

Humans have become master manipulators because lying is a necessity for survival. In fact, children begin lying at just six months old by fake crying or laughing (Smith). One advantage humans have over the animal kingdom is our ability to communicate through language. Plenty of animals lie without language. For example, some birds trick meerkats into thinking there are predators nearby to get the meerkat to abandon their food (Thorpe). However with the development of language, lying for humans has become immensely more complicated. One reason humans developed the ability to lie is that we are social creatures and thus need to form relationships with each other. One way to form these relationships is to lie to get others to like you (Thorpe). We see this with white lies where we compliment others despite it not always being the truth. Another lie that might strengthen relationships is lying for a friend. This may be risking getting into trouble but the potential payoff is more important to us than the risk of trouble. These lies are mutually beneficial but there are, of course, lies that can benefit the liar while hurting a victim (Thorpe). One example from our society is political figures that lie in order to gain support. They might promise certain things that can’t deliver on which creates a victim out of the voters. Similarly, in the early days of human existence, tribal leaders needed to lie to the masses to gain support for themselves. Another example of a lie that hurts victims is when a businessman steals an idea from their partner and claims it as their own. A parallel to this from tribal ages of humans is stealing food from a tribemate. These types of lies created a need for humans to detect lies

The use of lies that hurt victims promoted humans to grow their ability for detecting lies. There is a lot of debate about whether the signs experts use to detect lies are accurate, yet nearly all psychologists agree that there is a link between lying and physical behavioral ticks. The movies would have us believe that liars are always detected by looking at nervous ticks like fidgeting, frequent blinking, and having rigid posture. However, DePaulo and co-author Wendy Morris, a psychology graduate student at the University of Virginia, found that there is no link between these appearances and lying. They found, rather, that liars tend to have higher pitched voices and larger pupils. Paul Ekman, creator of the Facial Action Coding System, says facial cues and voice inflection are the biggest tell-tale signs for spotting a lie. The FACS was created to help law enforcement detect lies and Ekman claims it has a ninety percent success rate. DePaulo and Morris say another way to detect lies is by examining the content of what the suspect is saying. They say liars answer with simple explanations and withhold as much information as possible. They also use negative words such as hate, worthless, and sad (Adelson). This research has paved the way to innovative technology. Psychology professor, James Pennebaker, PhD, and his associates at the University of Texas at Austin, have developed computer software that analyzes written content and can predict whether someone is lying. The program has an accuracy of 67 percent. While this may seem low, it is actually 15 percent higher than what the accuracy of human judges and this is relatively new technology that can only improve (Adelson). This technology paired with physical examination of the liar could be a powerful tool in courtrooms. An important thing to consider about this research and technology is how it will be implemented into the courtrooms and police stations. The polygraph test is an example of technology that could have been implemented better. It measures heart rate/blood pressure, respiration, and skin conductivity while an examiner asks the suspect questions. The problem with this is that the polygraph is measuring fear rather than deception (The Truth About Lie Detectors). Therefore, a nervous person who is innocent may fail the test, while the guilty suspect passes because they were collected and calm during the exam. The polygraph’s results are often seen as fact when in reality it should be paired with other methods of detecting lies, for example human specialists. The detection of lies is not as easy as movies and TV makes it seem, but research and technology will help develop it with time.

In conclusion, the inclination to lie stems from the roots of human existence and is a complex aspect of human psychology. Humans have become experts at telling and detecting lies because there was a survival instinct to do so. Philosophers have debated the need for lies now that humans are not in a place of vulnerability. Now that lies have been shown to be very complex, it is understandable that somebody with aspergers like Christopher would have a hard time comprehending lies.