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Entertainment

Aurelija Rakauskaitė

47 Times Someone Tried To Lie In Plain Sight And Made A Fool Of Themselves

Dan Ariely

We typically learn how to lie between the ages of 2 and 4. At that point, the ability to deceive is actually an important cognitive developmental milestone.

It indicates we realize that our thoughts are separate from others’ — we understand that we can’t read each other’s minds!

But that doesn’t mean we can just say whatever and get away with it. Push your false narratives too far, and you’ll get exposed. People aren’t dumb and will catch up. Plus, since we all carry cameras in our pockets and know how to take screenshots online, there will be receipts.

To remind everyone that confidence doesn’t always equal credibility, we put together some of the most satisfying times liars got caught in broad daylight.

#1 During Lockdown A Guy Leaves A Bad Review For A Shop He Was Never Even At

#2 Okay Karen

Most of us are honest, says University of Wisconsin-La Crosse professor Tony Docan-Morgan, co-author of the study “Unpacking variation in lie prevalence: Prolific liars, bad lie days, or both?” published in Communication Monographs.

The paper examined 116,366 lies told by 632 participants over 91 consecutive days. Participants self-reported their lies daily via an online survey, and about 75% did not lie often — just 0 to 2 times per day.

A small group — 6% of respondents — had similarly low average levels of lying but had days when they lied much more frequently.

#3 Oh Man, Got Burned

#4 That’s 15 Pages A Day

#5 Yeah Not Everyone Is As Healthy As You. Some Of Us Like Our Soda

Unlike most previous lie studies, this research examined lies over time rather than in a one-day behavioral survey.

The study’s authors found that day-to-day variance varies considerably from person to person. People who are usually honest have days in which they lie more than is typical for them, and prolific liars have days in which they tell few lies.

Generally, prolific liars exhibited much more day-to-day variation than the rest. And this variance was especially true for the top 1% of liars, who averaged 17 lies per day. The only respondents who did not vary much day-to-day were the 1% who almost never lied.

#6 Wow, The Worst Types Of People On Yelp

#7 That Totally Happened

#8 College Class Clappers

#9 On A Post About Trans People

Why do people lie? According to the aforementioned study, there are several reasons:

21 % to avoid others
20 % as humor (a joke or a prank)
14 % to protect oneself
13 % to impress or appear more favorable
11 % to protect another person
9 % for personal benefit or gain
5 % for the benefit of another person
2 % to hurt another person
5 % unspecified reasons or, explicitly, for no reason at all

Additionally, 79% of the study’s lies were told face-to-face, and 21% were mediated.

#10 More Things That Never Happened

#11 Saw This On Fb In A Group For Things That Never Happen

#12 And In Today’s Things That Never Actually Happened

#13 Review

Who do people lie to?

51% of the time, it’s friends
21% - family
11% - school/business colleagues
8.9% - strangers
8.5% - casual acquaintances

88.6% of reported lies in the study were described as “little white lies,” and 11.4 % were characterized as “big lies.” An example of a “little white lie” would be saying you like a gift you really don't, and an example of a “big lie” would be insincerely declaring “I love you” to someone.

#14 And Then He Woke Up

#15 Just A 15 Yo Working At Louis Vuitton

#16 Lying About Donating Bone Marrow

#17 So Fake It Made Me Cringe

When we think about which of them are worse, our initial instinct is to condemn big lies and brush off the little ones. But that’s not necessarily the correct approach.

Dan Ariely, a professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University, is the author of the book The Honest Truth about Dishonesty.

“One of the frightening conclusions we have is that what separates honest people from not-honest people is not necessarily character, it’s opportunity,” he said.

#18 Robbery

#19 A Review For A Local Gun Range

#20 On Today’s Episode Of Things That Never Happened

#21 Friend Of Mine Has Daily Stories Of Men Worshipping Her Like The Goddess She Is

To Ariely, honesty is something of a state of mind. He thinks the IRS should require people to sign a pledge to be honest when they start working on their taxes, not when they’re done. Setting the stage for honesty is more effective than asking someone after the fact whether or not they lied.

However, echoing the study in Communication Monographs, he said we shouldn’t view research on honesty and lies as negative. We have plenty of opportunities to cheat and steal — sometimes, without even getting caught — and we usually don’t take them.

“There's a lot of good in us,” he added. “In fact, the surprising thing for a rational economist would be: why don't we cheat more?”