Lying

Information and communication technologies have allowed people to communicate on a much larger scale than ever before. However, not all of those communications are completely truthful; many are fraudulent, deceptive, or scams.

This week, let’s focus specifically on lying. Why do people lie? How often? Can we detect lying? Are we good at it? Do you lie?

Everyone lies. Yes, even you lie. You probably lie more often than you realize. For this week, I’d like you to read a couple of things that really try to figure out why we lie, when we lie, and how often we lie. Start out by reading this article in Scientific American by the philosopher David Livingstone Smith.
He summarized a lot of research about why we lie, and how humans evolved to be really good at lying. This is called the “Machiavellian brain” hypothesis: that humans developed big brains not to get better at using tools, but to get better at lying so we can use other humans as tools.

Next, let’s look at a specific type of lie that is really common (about 20% of all lies, and about 2% of all instant messages in the study): butler lies. Butler lies are when you lie about your availability — for example, saying “I can’t go; I’m studying” or “sorry I missed your call; my phone was dead” (when those aren’t true). Here is a paper on Butler Lies. Read the introduction, the section on “butler lies” on page 519, the section called “Butler lies in detail” on pages 522-523 and the first section of the discussion on pages 523-524. This should help you understand what these lies are.

Finally, I’d like you to tell a lie to someone. Yes, that’s right: your assignment for this week is to intentionally tell a lie. It is up to you what lie you want to tell: who do you lie to? what do you lie to them about? Take this seriously, and try to tell a lie for real, to someone you interact with.

Then, for the summary, I would like you to reflect on the lie that you told.

• Who did you lie to, and why did you choose to lie to that person?
• What was your agenda when lying? What were you trying to accomplish? (i.e. Why did you lie?)
• What type of lie was it? Was it a butler lie (about your availability), a substantive lie (about something important to the person), or another type of lie?
• Was it socially acceptable? Did the person discover it was a lie? If they do, would they be upset, or would it be considered fairly normal?
• Was the lie factually false? Or did it just bend the truth a bit? Or was it a lie of omission? How did you choose what type of lie to tell?
• Does anyone else know about this lie? Are they OK with your lie?
• Did this lie ever come up again, later on? Did you have to tell the same lie more than once? Did you have to tell additional lies to avoid being caught?

Please don’t lie to me (for this assignment); that isn’t a good way to think about lying. Also, you are responsible for any consequences of the lie you tell, so be careful about the lie you choose to tell. Everyone lies, surprisingly often. This assignment is more about reflecting on the process of lying than trying to get you to do something unusual.

Please come to class prepared to discuss the lie you told. You don’t need to provide details, but be willing to describe how you felt and what consequences might have happened.