Have I Ever Lied to You Art Buchwald Cover Art

The devious art of lying by telling the truth

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The line between truth and lies is becoming ever murkier, finds Melissa Hogenboom. There'southward even a word for a very unlike course of lying.

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It is no secret that politicians ofttimes lie, but consider this ­– they tin can do so simply by telling the truth. Confused?

That statement becomes clearer when yous realise that we've probably all done it. A classic case might be if your mum asks if you've finished your homework and you reply: "I've written an essay on Tennessee Williams for my English language grade." This may be true, but it doesn't really answer the question almost whether your homework was done. That essay could have been written long ago and yous have misled your poor mother with a truthful statement. Y'all might not accept fifty-fifty started your homework nonetheless.

Misleading past "telling the truth" is so pervasive in daily life that a new term has recently been employed by psychologists to describe it: paltering. That it is and then widespread in society at present gives u.s. more insight into the grayness expanse between truth and lies, and perhaps even why we prevarication at all.

Most of u.s. tell more than one prevarication per day (Credit: Everett Collection Inc/Alamy)

Nosotros lie all the fourth dimension, despite the fact that it costs united states of america considerably more than mental effort to lie than to tell the truth. US president Abraham Lincoln once said that "no homo has a good plenty memory to be a successful liar".

In 1996 one researcher, Bella DePaulo even put a effigy on it. She constitute that each of us lies almost once or twice a day. She discovered this by asking participants for one calendar week to notation down each fourth dimension they lied, even if they did so with a good intention. Out of the 147 participants in her original written report, only 7 said they didn't lie at all - and nosotros tin can only guess if they were telling the truth.

Many of the lies were fairly innocent, or even kind, such as: "I told her that she looked good when I idea that she looked like a blimp." Some were to hide embarrassment, such as pretending a spouse had non been fired. DePaulo, a psychologist at the University of California Santa Barbara, says that the participants in her study were not enlightened of how many lies they told, partly because most were and then "ordinary and so expected that we simply don't notice them".

It is when individuals use lies to dispense others or to purposely mislead that information technology is more worrying. And this happens more often than yous might remember.

The truth is non always what it seems (Credit: Chris Rout/Alamy)

When Todd Rogers and his colleagues were looking at how ofttimes politicians dodge questions during debates they realised something else was going on. By stating another truthful fact, they could become out of answering a question. They could fifty-fifty imply something was true when information technology was not. Politicians do this all the time, says Rogers, a behavioural scientist at Harvard Kennedy School. He and colleagues therefore prepare out to understand more virtually information technology.

He found that paltering was an extremely common tactic of negotiation. Over half the 184 business executives in his study admitted to using the tactic. The research also found that the person doing the paltering believed it was more upstanding than lying outright.

The individuals who had been deceived, however, did not distinguish betwixt lying and paltering. "Information technology probably leads to too much paltering as communicators remember that when disclosed, it volition exist somewhat ethical, whereas listeners come across it as a lie," says Rogers.

Politicians commonly manipulate the truth (Credit: Getty Images)

Information technology is besides hard to spot a misleading "fact" when we hear something that on the confront of it, sounds truthful. For instance, the Uk's Labour Party campaign video to lower the voting age said: "You're 16. Now you can become married, join the Regular army, work total-time." The BBC's reality check team discovered that these facts do not tell the whole truth.

"You can merely join the Army aged xvi or 17 with your parents' permission," the Reality Bank check team wrote. "At that historic period yous besides need your parents' permission to get married unless you do so in Scotland. Since 2013, sixteen and 17-year-olds cannot work full-time in England, but can in the other 3 home nations with some restrictions."

In another case, the then-presidential-nominee Donald Trump paltered during the presidential debates. He was questioned about a housing bigotry lawsuit early on in his career and stated that his company had given "no admission of guilt". While they may not have admitted it, an investigation by the New York Times found that his company did discriminate based on race.

And even if we exercise spot misleading truths, social norms tin can preclude us from challenging whether or not they are deceptive. Accept a now infamous interview in the Britain, where journalist Jeremy Paxman interviewed the politico Michael Howard (pictured beneath). He repeatedly asks Howard whether he "threatened to overrule" the then prisons governor. Howard in turn, continues to evade the question with other facts in a baroque exchange that becomes increasingly bad-mannered to watch. Not many of u.s. are comfortable challenging someone in that way.

Paltering is a common negotiation tactic (Credit: BBC)

While it's common in politics, so likewise is it in everyday life. Consider the estate agent who tells a potential heir-apparent that an unpopular property has had "lots of enquiries" when asked how many actual bids there have been. Or the used car salesman who says a car started up extremely well on a frosty morning, without disclosing that information technology broke down the week earlier. Both statements are truthful just mask the reality of the unpopular property and the dodgy motorcar.

Paltering is perhaps so commonplace because it is seen equally a useful tool. It happens because we constantly accept and then many competing goals, suggests Rogers. "Nosotros want to attain our narrow objective – [selling a business firm or automobile] – but we also want people to see us as ethical and honest." He says these two goals are in tension and by paltering, people believe they are being more ethical than outright lying. "We show evidence they are making a error," says Rogers.

We can run into the bug this sort of thinking can cause reflected in gild today. The public are conspicuously sick of being lied to and trust in politicians is plummeting. One 2016 poll found that the British public trust politicians less than estate agents, bankers and journalists.

And despite the fact that we at present frequently expect lies from those in ability, it remains challenging to spot them in real time, specially and so if they prevarication by paltering. Psychologist Robert Feldman, author of The Liar in Your Life, sees this as worrying both on a personal and on a macro level. "When nosotros're lied to by people in power, it ruins our conviction in political institutions – it makes the population very cynical virtually [their] real motivations."

Lying can and does clearly serve a devious social purpose. It tin aid someone paint a better motion picture than the truth, or assist a political leader dodge an uncomfortable question. "Information technology'due south unethical and it makes our democracy worse. But information technology'due south how human cognition works," says Rogers.

Unfortunately, the prevalence of lies might stem from the way we are brought upward. Lies play a office in our social interactions from a very immature age. We tell young children about tooth fairies and Santa, or encourage a child to be grateful for an unwanted present. "We give our kids very mixed messages," says Feldman. "What they ultimately learn is that even though honesty is the all-time policy, information technology'due south as well at times fine and preferable to prevarication about things."

And so next time y'all hear a fact that sounds odd, or someone to exist deflecting a question, exist aware that what you lot think is the truth may very well exist deceptive.

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Melissa Hogenboom is BBC Futurity's characteristic author, she is @melissasuzanneh on twitter.

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Source: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20171114-the-disturbing-art-of-lying-by-telling-the-truth

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