ipl-logo

Why We Lie Essay

732 Words3 Pages

Honesty might be the best policy, but according to scientific discovery, honesty may not be the only policy our brains are wired to abide by. Yudhijit Bhattacharjee’s article explored the neurological behavior behind lying an in attempt to figure out not only why humans lie, but also why we do not lie more. Throughout the article, Bhattacharjee develops his idea that lying is imbedded in us with supporting experiments done by other scientists and interesting anecdotes from different famous liars. The initial story immediately caught my eye. In the heat of filling out college essays and feeling overwhelmed by the lack of extracurriculars I have, I’ve stumbled into conversations with my peers wondering how college admissions officers actually …show more content…

A human’s natural tendency towards small lies for various reasons paired with a human’s natural tendency to trust in people is an idea teeming with irony. When I think about it, lying is not a characteristic that is taught to us in our developmental stages at home or in school, yet everyone lies. It is an innate behavior, but why? Scientist have been experimenting to figure out the answer to this question for years. My favorite theory goes back to evolution and relates to ideas in Survival of the Sickest. Lying is a non-physical form of manipulation. It is a more efficient way to get what a person needs to survive. The game of life abides by one rule: it is the survival of the fittest. It’s not hard to imagine how lying to manipulate other people into giving you the best medical care, the best food and water choices, or better living conditions would help the “fittest” (the best manipulators or liars) survive. The part that is still unknown is the wiring of the brain. Does the brain already have the extra fibers in the prefrontal cortex that show up in the brain scans of habitual liars, or do the extra connections come as a result of the habitual lying? I’d to see an experiment where a brain scan was done at each developmental stage of someone from newborn to adulthood. Scientists could compare the growth of the fibers in the cortex to the frequency of lying to determine which appears first: the habit of deception or the greater connectivity within their

Show More
Related

Summary Of Stephanie Ericsson The Ways We Lie

185 Words | 1 Pages

The essay targets the general public, since Ericsson aims to make the average person aware of the role that lying plays in daily life. To accomplish

Read More

Summary Of The Ways We Lie Rn Ericssson

213 Words | 1 Pages

JIn Ericsson¶s essay The Ways We Lie, she writes 9 descriptions and examples of lies weall encounter every single day. It¶s implied throughout the essay that humans often do not intendto lie, but we all do in various ways. We choose to make life easier by ignoring facts,confrontation, or potentially bad situations through a lie. A theme Ericsson focuses on isdeciding when to lie. The trick of thought when telling a white lie is that you begin to think youknow what¶s best for the person being lied to.

Read More

Essay 'Threats To Become A Cultural Cancer' By Ericsson

751 Words | 4 Pages

Ericsson’s essay says this, “We lie. We all do. We exaggerate, we minimize, we avoid confrontation, we spare people's feelings, we conveniently forget, we keep secrets, we justify lying to the big-guy institutions.” Even though lying is not a big deal for some people in today’s society, it is still a “cultural cancer”. Also, it is a big deal to some other

Read More

The Ways We Lie By Stephanie Ericsson

835 Words | 4 Pages

Lying becomes a normal part of our everyday routine because “everyone does it.” Ericsson goes further in describing the effects of lies by stating, “Our acceptance of lies becomes a cultural cancer that eventually shrouds and reorders reality until moral garbage becomes as invisible to us as water is to a fish” (Ericsson, 2004, p 128). Lying presents itself in many seemingly harmless forms. When a lie does not present itself as a blatant lie, it often slips unnoticed because the other forms of lies have already been accepted as part of everyday

Read More

Stephanie Ericsson The Way We Lie Analysis

539 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout life, we sometimes don't take the time to think about what comes out of our mouth. We feel the need to tell a falsehood to make ourselves look better or feel better. After all, we don't want to accept the harsh truth of reality that is lives are not perfect. Sometimes we even forget why we're even lying at all. However, we are not alone as human begins it's in our nature to lie.

Read More

Rhetorical Analysis Of The Ways We Lie

1285 Words | 6 Pages

Nicholas Martin Ms.Williams English 111 D-35 14 December 2015 The Allure Of Lying Stephanie Ericsson is an American screenwriter and author, Ericsson’s piece “The Ways We Lie” (1993) uses classification to display different types of lies people use and the way lies affect people. Richard Gunderman is a doctor and professor at Indiana University, Gundermans essay “Is Lying Bad For Us?” (2013) uses a broad and casual view to support the claim that lying affects people's health. The classification that Ericsson uses in its entirety is a collection of short personal allusions describing a few of the many types of lying, this method is not the best way to persuade someone that lying is unacceptable.

Read More

Examples Of Lies In The Crucible

733 Words | 3 Pages

The Ways We Lie “A lie may take care of the present, but it has no future…” - Anonymous. You lie, I lie, everyone does, but why; don’t people know that in the long run it will only hurt us? People lie all the time, for many different reasons, to keep out of trouble, to get someone else in trouble, to save others, to get something, etc., but all eventually leads to the opposite of what they wanted. One way I personally had an experience with lying and it not turning out the way I wanted was when I told my parents I had no idea where the candy was, but my mom eventually found it in my room and I was busted.

Read More

Is Lying Okay In Night By Elie Wiesel

571 Words | 3 Pages

When people lie, they start to feel anxious and just steadily worry about it. Lying does that to people because their going against what is right. Being truthful more often could help both someone’s mental and physical health. People may can keep a lie from someone for a little while, but it will soon come out, no matter what. It is mainly used to cover up our mistakes.

Read More

Analysis Of Robert Trivers's The Folly Of Fools

75 Words | 1 Pages

In The Folly of Fools, leading evolutionary theorist Robert Trivers argues that in order to deceive others, we often deceive ourselves first. To lie to others, we hide our intent to deceive and the details of our deception; we selectively recall information and bias our arguments. Trivers marshals evidence–from immunology to neuroscience to group dynamics to the relationships of parents and children–of an arms race between deceiver and deceived at every level of biological

Read More

Stephanie Ericsson The Way We Lie Summary

938 Words | 4 Pages

In “The Way We Lie”, author Stephanie Ericsson gives her readers a list of ten lie we sometime use it for a purpose and sometime we did not realize we did it. She starts out her story with four lie she used in the same morning as she is starting out her day. She explains these lie are intentionally use to minimize the complications and make the day goes much smoother. However, she questions whether these lie can actually make an impact on the person who carry out and the person who receive the lie.

Read More

Examples Of Phony In Catcher In The Rye

496 Words | 2 Pages

Everyone lies. Everyone adores attention and crave the need for great impressions. In some point of our life, we eventually tend to think twice on situations and assume when someone is acting phony. Normally, children leading into their teenage years tend get into this phase. People act phony because they wish to fit in, they seek attention, or their intention is to impress certain people.

Read More

Rhetorical Analysis Of The Way We Lie

1221 Words | 5 Pages

Ericsson cites several examples of different types of lies, such as “the little white lie”, “Group-Thinking”, and “Dismissal”. Through these examples, the author illustrates the different motives behind why people lie and the effects that it has on individuals and society. The author claims that society’s acceptance of lying has led to a lack of trust in personal relationships, institutions and even the government. Ericsson also argues that lying is not only a moral issue, but it is also a psychological issue as it can lead to guilt and fear of being caught. The author believes that the use of lies creates an environment where individuals are not able to rely on the truth, and it creates a culture of

Read More

Conservative And Liberal View Of Abortion

1027 Words | 5 Pages

It can be hard to find your political view. Sometimes it takes time and research on political issues in our country and around the world. There are two popular political views; conservative and liberal. The definition for a conservative; is holding to traditional attitudes and values and cautious about change or innovation, typically in relation to politics or religion. Liberal definition is; open to new behavior or opinions and willing to discard traditional values.

Read More

Stephanie Ericsson The Ways We Lie Essay

1190 Words | 5 Pages

Stephanie Ericsson begins her explorative essay, “The Ways We Lie,” with a personal anecdote of all the lies she fabricated in one day. She told her bank that a deposit was in the mail when it was not, told a client that the traffic had been bad when she was late for other reasons, told her partner that her day was fine when it was really exhausting, and told her friend she was too busy for lunch when she just was not hungry, all in the course of a day. She shifts from talking about herself to talking about everyone, claiming that all people lie, exaggerate, minimize, keep secrets, and tell other lies. But, like herself, most still consider themselves honest people. She describes a week in which she tried to never tell a lie; it was debilitating, she claims.

Read More

Stephanie Ericsson The Ways We Lie Analysis

451 Words | 2 Pages

Stephanie Ericsson justifies the habits of lying in “The Ways We Lie” using firsthand experiences and solid metaphors. Essentially, Take into consideration before you lie, because it could be at someone else's

Read More

More about Why We Lie Essay

Related Topics

Open Document