Why do we lie?

Why do we lie?

  There are somethings in our life which we can't confess or admit in our so called polite society where honesty is valued. But there are many cases where we have to lie. But why do we exactly lie?

  As lying has come to be recognized as a deeply ingrained human trait, social science researchers and neuroscientists have sought to illuminate the nature and roots of the behavior. Why do we exactly lie?

  We lie because it works, and because it has benefits. We avoid punishment by fibbing about who scribbled on the walls with permanent marker, we get higher raises by taking credit for work tasks we didn't complete. But when the lie is discovered, and has more drawbacks only then do some people tell the truth.

  The ability to lie and not realize it is a gift unique to humans. Not only do we deceive others, we can trick ourselves into believing something that's not true is. That's because motivation for lying is usually tied up in self-esteem and self-preservation. We lie in an effort to create the best possible version of ourselves, and we lie so that we don't have to face the consequences that our other, less-perfect self incurs. That means we may lie about our accomplishments or skills so that others respect us more, or to cover up mistakes so that we don't lose that respect. We'll also lie about mistakes and misdeeds to avoid punishment.

  Sometimes we do it to avoid hurting someone else's feelings, which has the bonus effect of ensuring the other person maintains their good opinion of us. How ever there are more chances that we lie to help people than to lie maliciously (to hurt someone).

  Avoiding embarrassment is still another motive for some serious and many trivial lies. The child who claims the wet seat resulted from spilling a glass of water, not from wetting her pants is an example, if the child did not fear punishment for her failure, just embarrassment.

  We can be proud of our lies. Lying is considered a sign of intelligence and cognitive skill, because it takes some aptitude to recognize the way things are and then create and present an alternative to that reality. And it's a skill that we exercise quite a bit.

Posts before October 2021 have been marked as "Old Posts". Less likely, but they might have out dated or incorrect information, ugly looking bits of code, no labels, etc. Don't get me wrong, many of these posts are top-notch and interesting too.

I thought it would be better not to delete or revamp these posts, even if they suck. The bitter truth is that old works always suck, but I take that as a positive tool to convey that I am growing. Besides there's no better way to showcase my journey without these old, messy, poorly written posts!

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