The Truth About Lies

Most of us feel the same way. We like to think that in formation given to us whether by word of mouth or in written form is truthful.

In survey carried out in Germany , the vast majority of respondents felt that lying on minor issues in order to protect one self or person other from harm is permissible.

When you think about it, a surprising number of our social interactions involve trying to deceive each other.
Now you may ask, what is the difference between truths and lies?

According to Encarta 2006, truth is a concept in philosophy that treats both meaning of the word truth and the criteria by which we get the truth or falsehood in spoken and written statement.
What is a lie? Every lie is an untruth but not every untruth is a lie. A dictionary defines a lie as "an assertion of something known or believed by the speaker to be untrue with intent to deceive someone. Hence to speak an untruth unwittingly – such as giving someone incorrect facts or figures by mistake-is not the same as to tell lie."

Research has shown that it is not only human beings that liars, but because of our unique intelligence and language abilities, we are the only one who have made it such a fine art, may be in the process of trying to gain wealth or status for wealth, power or position to which we are not entitled.
Paul Ekman, a psychologist at the University of California, San Francisco, who has studied the subject "lie" for some forty years, discovered that "when lie is planned, deceivers start their answer more quickly than truth tellers. If taken by surprise, however, the liar takes longer to start answering question and they talk less".

Liars tend to withhold information, either to avoid guilt or to make it easier to get their stories straight. Liar’s sound more discrepant and ambivalent; the structure of their stories is less logical.
Deception extends beyond appearance and tends to be rife in nature. For instance, some animals use deceptive behavior such as keeping one step ahead of others, hiding food, sneaky mating and using manipulation. Such duplicity takes brain as grammatologists Andrew Byrne and Nadia corp. in their studies have shown. Their study reveals that the size of the cortex, that is, the outermost layer of the brain, which is responsible for advance cognitive function, is a good predictor of the degree to be found in a primate species.

Although most of the animals lack the "theory mind," the ability to understand that another animal may hold different perspective on things. They deceive only by learning that certain tactics work in a particular situation – an ability that has surprisingly ancient origins, which according to researcher implies that, learning to deceive is at least 50 million years old.
Still talking about the devices that are used to detect lies. The polygraph is also a device that is designed and used to register a person’s body responses when being questioned. But law enforcers say they no longer rely on the polygraph lie-detector, despite the fact that the polygraph results are used in conjunction with other evidences, observation and information. This means that our normal reliance on verbal, non-verbal machines and other cues may not be the formal evidences in sporting lies.

At this juncture, one may ask: why these tendencies to lie? Greed and selfish ambitions are very much the motives that impel many people to lie; greed in business, corrupt polities and false religions are rife with deception, falsehood, manipulation and fraud. This is because people are often motivated by greed and ambition to move ahead, to reach out for wealth, power and positions to which they are not entitled.

Another factor behind lying is the fear of the consequences of what others may think if the truth is told. Though it is natural that people wish to be liked or accepted by others. This desire, however moves them to distort the truth in order to cover up shortcoming or to leave a good impression.
Truthful speech is marked by durability and permanence, and that relationships are more stable and satisfying when people are committed to speaking the truth and acting in harmony.

Truthfulness brings immediate rewards, which include clean conscience, a good reputation and strong relationships in marriage, in the family, among friends, in polities and even in business.

Lies on the other hand can not stand the taste of time. Knowing that tongues that utter falsehood may deceive for a while, but untruth does not prevail in the long term. Liars should also know that lies anywhere is the art to peace and justice every where.


Courtesy: Victoria Johnson
Department of Mass Communication,
University of Maiduguri. Nigeria.
E-mail vicmady@yahoo.com