Lies and Liars

Let's face it, lying is part of life. It oils the wheels of our relationships. What would life be like if we told the truth all the time? Think about it. When was the last time you told a friend that they looked old and tired? Or that you are late for work because you just couldn't be bothered to get up on time?

Lying is natural. A Gallup poll found that, on average, Brits tells as many as 20 untruths a day. Children start fibbing at about three and four years old to get what they want or to avoid punishment.

Lying in Europe

Lying though seems to come more naturally to Brits than to other Europeans. A survey of office workers found that in the UK we lie more often than our European colleagues. Though 11% of Brits admitted denying the receipt of certain e-mails, only 4% of Spaniards, 3% of French and Italians and 1% of Germans admitted to the same – or were they telling porkies?

Surveys show that the people most likely to lie are those who care deeply about what other people think of them. Most lies are self-serving; told to protect the liar from embarrassment, disapproval or conflict. But nearly a quarter of lies are told to benefit someone else, usually by protecting their feelings.

Lie spotting

White lies are all well and good, but there is a point at which lying becomes deviant, either because it's very sad or it's just plain criminal. But it seems that we are not very good a spotting liars.

A review of 253 studies, reported in New Scientist, found that the accuracy with which professionals, like police officers, probation officers and judges, catch out liars runs at about 53%.

Three-quarters of people believe that liars will avert their gaze, but the opposite is true. Liars maintain eye contact in order to check how their story is going down, and to persuade you that they are indeed honest.

Body language, in fact, is rather an unreliable lie detector. Harold Shipman was a good liar – nothing in his demeanor gave him away; no twitch or change in voice revealed the depths to which he had sunk.

Read about lie detection technology >>

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