People aren’t very good at seeing through lies. In fact, a study has shown over and over that our ability to spot lies is only about 54% accurate, which is just a little bit better than a coin toss. Even if you tell a few white lies now and then, it’s not too bad. But if you lie a lot, that’s a clear line you should never cross.
Even if they don’t mean to, liars break trust and can never keep a good relationship going for long. Let’s start breaking down the science of lying with these six facts about people who often lie that everyone should know.
1. People who lie a lot think they are good at it:
A 2019 study found that people who lie a lot think they are good at it. Brianna Verigin and the other co-authors of the study say that good liars seem to be responsible for a large number of lies in everyday life.
The results show that “higher self-reported ratings of individuals’ deception ability were positively correlated with self-reports of telling a greater number of lies each day.” For a person who lies a lot, deception is not just a habit of stretching the truth. Instead, making a lie hard to spot takes skill and planning.
2. They like to lie to your face.
Researchers also found that a higher self-reported ability to lie was linked to a preference for saying lies face-to-face but not to texting, calling, emailing, or using social media.
This study is similar to one from 2017 that looked at the traits of people who said they were good or bad liars. That study found that “self-perceived good liars most often lied through face-to-face interactions rather than through text chat.” The research here shows that this could be a deliberate choice on the part of a person who lies a lot since verbal strategies for lying work best in person.
3. The Most Common Recipients of the Prolific Liars’ Lies
This study found that skilled liars are more likely to lie to their friends, coworkers, and romantic partners than to their families, bosses, or people in power.
The authors say that this shows that good liars are not as limited in who they lie to as poor liars, who, research has shown, tend to lie more to casual acquaintances and strangers than to friends and family.
4. They tend to lie about things that don’t matter much.
The study also found that a good liar is more likely to tell small lies than big ones.
The results of the self-reports show that a higher ability to lie was linked to more white lies and exaggerations in the last 24 hours.
The people who wrote this study think that “people who think they can get away with telling such small lies may be more likely to do so in everyday conversations.”
5. A small number of liars tell most of the lies.
Research has shown that most people are honest most of the time and that only a small number of people lie most of the time.
In fact, a study done in 2010 with 1,000 people found that 5 per cent of the people told 50 per cent of all the lies that were told in a 24-hour time.
6. Who is a better liar, men or women?
Men are twice as likely as women to think they are good at lying and getting away with it, according to a 2019 study. Seventy percent of the people who said they were bad liars were women, while only 30 percent were men.
Also, about 62 percent of the people who said they were good liars were men, while only about 37 percent were women.