Why Do We Lie?

Why do Humans lie to others?

My Argument/Belief -
Yes I understand Humans are flawed and lying is basically inevitable. (I can't and will not use the term always instead of basically). Why lie when we know and are repetitively told it's not right? I understand that what people tell us is not always what we should believe, so please bring up another argument or saying "Just because your told to do something doesn't mean it's true/false/moral/immoral". Since Humans are flawed, it's in their nature to make mistakes (lying) in the eyes of many.

 

I think it has a lot to do with forethought and our minds ability to almost "play-out" what will happen. If we favor one story line over another, naturally we'll want to pick that one.

 

Because we fear the consequences of what will happen if we tell the truth.

 

Well...part of it is that we grow up with it and grow up and see a lot of people lie that we trust so we get it through our minds it is okay to lie...and we dont want to get punished if we tell the truth...(if we are in trouble).

 

Why should we fear the consequences when we know they will be worse for lying?

 

Well I lie to get away with things..

 

To make ourselves look better, or make others look worse.

To get out of situations you know will be bad, to procrastinate the inevitable.

 

Because people take the chance of lying to avoid the possible Consequences of what ever situation or issue that is occurring, which by taking that risk your putting self in a position by with said lie, it may just worsen the situation.

Personally own up, grow some balls be honest, its a lot easier being honest the first time when the consequences could be not as great.

 

Depends what you lie About,

Lieing to get out of somthing, Obviuosly for the fact you wnat to save your own ass.

Lieing to help/hide somthing from some one, Is somtimes a good thing.

But we lie to cover and hide from bad things is my thoughts.

 

Because we fear how other people will react to our actions. We lie to protect ourselves from what we don't want to deal with, by either lying to completely remove the risk of a consequence from our immediate vicinity or to delay it.

 

It is a defense mechanism, that's how I see it.

Most if not all people will automatically tell a lie if pressured.

The easiest example being "I don't know"

 

There is no such thing as "lies" or "truth" there are only grim facts and pain in this world.
Everyone in this world take facts that are convinient to them.
But for the majority in this world those "facts" are inconvinient for them and their self affirmation.

 

Because we enjoy manipulating situations to our advantages. We are all caculating creatures to give whats best for us.

 

To achive an endgoal we could not do without lying

 

To protect ourselves.

 

In a very tiny nutshell, we lie to protect something.
It's survival of the fittest, is it not?

*edit: as stated above me.

 

Because sometimes the truth isn't as good as you want it to be...

 

I will have to agree with AfterLyfe, humans have been given the keen ability to foresee the possible outcomes with our abstract thought, something no other creature has yet to master. Honestly, can see how some think lying is OK. I understand there thought process and yes it does help individuals advance in this world over others who aren't as clever or witty, but at what cost? This comes down to a persons morals, which are basically human weaknesses, but I still have them none-the-less because of how I was raised. There are countless things people do in everyday life that others would think is horrible to make there lives better, so how far you will go to advance your own situation is different for every person. Yes we are calculating creatures but this ability doesn't have to be corrupt, when we calculate all of the possible outcomes of a situation and we are thinking about lying, we must also calculate the outcomes for every other individual involved, and if humanity has a chance at all, hopefully people will realize that not lying IS the best route to choose.

 

Convenience.

Because we can. It's like a bad habit.

 

Recently I was thinking about this and in social situations I came to the conclusion that it is about expectation. I tend to lie about things I haven't done but feel that I should have done because of how I am with people - my personality creates the expectation in them that I should have done something, and when I haven't I feel compelled to lie.