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Liar, liar pants on fire
“Sorry, we can’t make it to your son’s piano recital tonight – I’m sick with the flu.”
Translation: I’d rather watch my dog lick his butt than sit through your kid’s recital.
“I mailed that payment two weeks ago. It must have gotten lost in the mail.”
Translation: I spent the money for the electric bill on martinis and shoes.
“Mom, I’ve got to get off the phone now. The dog just pooped on the rug.”
Translation: If I have to listen to one more offhand comment about my career choices, I’m going to need a sedative.
“I have to leave work early today – I have a doctor’s appointment.”
Translation: I just want to go home, stretch out on the couch and watch “The People’s Court.”
We all do it. Whether big or small, our lives are filled with lies.
Some are made to spare people’s feelings…
“No, I think your orthopedic shoes are really cute.”
Or to get ourselves out of a sticky situation…
“I had no idea he was married.”
Or to make our life a little easier…
“I’ll call you back later…”
I happened upon an article on cnn.com today that really made me think about how often, and why, we lie.
We lie, she says, because we want others to see us how we wish we were, to spare other people’s feelings or to avoid conflict. In 2004, DePaulo conducted a very interesting study using students from the University of Santa Barbara and people from the surrounding community. She found that over the course of one week, the college students lied, at least once, to 38% of the people with whom they interacted. Community members lied to 30%. DePaulo found that certain types of people lie more often than others. For example, manipulative people lie to get what they want. People-pleasers say what they think the other person wants to hear, even if it’s a lie. Extroverts are often more tuned in to others, and understand what lies will impress them. DePaulo also found that most white lies are told to strangers. All of these facts and figures got me thinking. I’m definitely what you would consider an “extrovert,” one of the groups listed as frequent liars. I decided to take DePaulo’s test and see how many times I lie in one week. I’ll update my log each day, with examples of the lies I have told – big and small.
This should be interesting.