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Juts read a heading on aol, followed the link and it was about a baskeyball player named Durant and someone mentioned that he was a second coming of Tiger Woods. This prompted aol to lead off the article with the misleading quote.

Article: Featured Story- Why We Lie - AOL Research & Learn :

Tags: lies, deception

Why We Lie

By ROBIN LLOYD

Corbis

In one study, 60 percent of people lied an average of 2.92 times in 10 minutes.

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We all lie, all the time. It causes problems, to say the least. So why do we do it?

It boils down to the shifting sands of the self and trying to look good both to ourselves and others, experts say.

"It's tied in with self-esteem," says University of Massachusetts psychologist Robert Feldman. "We find that as soon as people feel that their self-esteem is threatened, they immediately begin to lie at higher levels."

Not all lies are harmful. In fact, sometimes lying is the best approach for protecting privacy and ourselves and others from malice, some researchers say. Some deception, such as boasting and lies in the name of tact and politeness, can be classified as less than serious. But bald-faced lies (whether they involve leaving out the truth or putting in something false), are harmful, as they corrode trust and intimacy -- the glue of society.

Kidding Yourself

Many animals engage in deception, or deliberately misleading another, but only humans are wired to deceive both themselves and others, researchers say. People are so engaged in managing how others perceive them that they are often unable to separate truth from fiction in their own minds, Feldman's research shows. For instance, In one experiment, Feldman put two strangers in a room together. They were videotaped while they conversed. Later, independently, each was asked to view the tape and identify anything they had said that was not entirely accurate.

Rather than defining what counts as a lie and to avoid the moral tone of the word "lie," Feldman's experimenters simply asked subjects after the fact to identify anything they had said in the video that was "not entirely accurate."

Initially, "Each subject said, 'Oh, I was entirely accurate,'" Feldman told LiveScience. Upon watching themselves on video, subjects were genuinely surprised to discover they had said something inaccurate. The lies ranged from pretending to like someone they actually disliked to falsely claiming to be the star of a rock band.

The study, published in the Journal of Basic and Applied Psychology, found that 60 percent of people had lied at least once during the 10-minute conversation, saying an average of 2.92 inaccurate things.

"People almost lie reflexively," Feldman says. "They don't think about it as part of their normal social discourse." But it is, the research showed.

"We're trying not so much to impress other people but to maintain a view of ourselves that is consistent with the way they would like us to be," Feldman said. We want to be agreeable, to make the social situation smoother or easier, and to avoid insulting others through disagreement or discord.

Men lie no more than women, but they tend to lie to make themselves look better, while women are more likely to lie to make the other person feel better.

Extroverts tend to lie more than introverts, Feldman found in similar research involving a job-interview situation.

Workplace Lies

Other research has delved into prevarication in the workplace.

Self-esteem and threats to our sense of self are also drivers when it comes to lying to co-workers, rather than strangers, says Jennifer Argo of the University of Alberta. A study she co-authored showed that people are even more willing to lie to coworkers than they are to strangers.

"We want to both look good when we are in the company of others (especially people we care about), and we want to protect our self-worth," Argo told LiveScience.

Related Stories From LiveScience.com

• Scientists Discover Trust Potion
• Cheating on Spouse, Taxes Morally Acceptable?
• Brain Scans as Lie Detectors
• Your Stomach Doesn't Lie
• Why Men Exaggerate Number of Sexual Partners

The experiment involved reading a scenario to a subject, telling them they had paid more than a coworker for the same new car. When the coworker, in the scenario, mentioned what they had paid, $200 or $2,000 more in different versions of the experiment, the subject was asked to report how they would respond.

Argo found that her subjects were more willing to lie when the price difference was small and when they were talking to a coworker rather than to a stranger.

Consumers lie to protect their public and private selves, she wrote in the Journal of Consumer Research with her colleagues from the University of Calgary and University of British Columbia.

Argo said she was surprised that people are so willing to lie to someone they know even over a small price discrepancy.

"I guess closely tied to this is that people appear to be short-term focused when they decide to deceive someone -- save my self-image and self-worth now, but later on if the deceived individual finds out it can have long-term consequences," she said.

Feldman says people should become more aware of the extent to which we tend to lie and that honesty yields more genuine relationships and trust. "The default ought to be to be honest and accurate ... We're better off if honesty is the norm. It's like the old saying: honesty is the best policy."

Story first published May 15, 2006.

(c) 1999-2007 Imaginova Corp. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

another letter scam

JIM HARRY WORK ART INC
Ballachulish NR Fort William
Argyll PA394HL
United Kingdom
Rc:130045
Phone number +447031840240
FAX NUMBER +448700683926

My name is JIM HARRY and I am an artist.I live in United Kingdom,with my two
kids,four cats,one dog and the love of my life(my wife of 5 years). It is
definitely a full house. I have been doing artwork since I was a kid(12 yrs
old).That gives me about 30 years of experience. I majored in art in high
school and took a few college art courses.

Most of my work is done in either pencil or airbrush mixed with color
pencils. I have recently added designing and creating artwork on the
computer.I have been selling my art works for the last 3 years and have had
my work featured on trading cards, prints and in magazines.I have sold in
galleries and also to private collectors from all around the world.I am
always facing serious difficulties when it comes to selling my art works to
Americans,they are always offering to pay with a US MONEY ORDER OR CASHIERS
CHECK,which is difficult for me to cash here in United Kingdom because it
will take approximately 30days to clear which will tie down my money.I am
looking for a representative in the states who will be working for me as a
part-time worker and i will be willing to pay 10% for every
transaction,which wouldn't affect your present state of work,someone who
would help me recieve payments from my customers in the states.I mean
someone that is responsible and reliable,because the cost of coming to the
state and getting payments is very expensive,i am working on setting up a
branch in the states,so for now i need a representative in the united states
who will be handling the payment aspect.

These payments are in money order and they would come to you in your name,
so all you need do is cash the money order deduct your percentage and wire
the rest back.The only problem i have is trust but i have my way of getting
anyone that gets away with our money,i mean the FBI branch in Washington
gets involved if any of my employees want to play funny games so if you have
bad intentions in mind then don't just try it because you will be caught
with ease.It wouldn't cost you any amount to get this transaction done,you
are to receive payments which will be sent to you by fedex or usps from my
business patners butpreferably Fedex,which would come in form of a money
order then you are to cash it and send the cash to me via moneygram money
transfer,all transfer fees should be deducted from the money.If you are
interested,please get back to me asap to know if you are interested because
Job commences the moment I open a file for you on your name and info.I
believe this will be a good opportunity to make good earning at the begining
of this year.

Regards,