Don't Be Fooled on April 1st—The Five Truths About Lying

This Saturday is April Fool’s Day—the one day that we support and even encourage the act of lying. People are preparing their lies to fool their family and friends. There will also be companies that try to pull fast ones. Remember when Taco Bell ran ads announcing that it had purchased the Liberty Bell to “reduce the country’s debt” and renamed it the “Taco Liberty Bell?” Of course, this was not true, but it was the subject of a lot of discussions on April 1, 1996.

If you are going to develop an effective lie—that is, one that is believable—to fool someone on Saturday, be aware of the following five truths about lying:

• There must be some truth to develop an effective lie. The truth makes a lie believable. As an example, you ask your fraudster co-worker, “Wow! That is a nice Lamborghini. Where did you get the money to buy that?” There are two possible replies, 1) “I won the Powerball,” or 2) “You remember my uncle who died last year? Well, I inherited a bunch of money from him because he didn’t have any kids.” Doesn’t the second response, that has some truth in it, seem more believable?
• Some people are better at lying than others. I am not sure if I would classify lying as a skill or a talent, but if you practice, you can get better. Also, people who are better at lying tend to be better at finding the truth. They are more skeptical and better at detecting lies, skills that can be difficult to teach.
• Lies are not always harmful. These lies are usually called “white lies.” We often tell these lies to protect someone’s feelings or to make a better story. Who is harmed if you tell your friends a story about the huge fish you caught over the weekend? The fish grows an inch or more every time the story is repeated. It grows so large that it becomes a tall-tale, like Paul Bunyan.
• Lies usually lead to more lies. Once someone tells a lie, they usually tell more lies to keep the truth hidden. As people ask more questions or the story builds, the lies build and build, and eventually, the truth is revealed.
• Everyone lies. We often do it without even thinking because it is a habit. For example, someone may ask you, “How’s it going?” We may automatically answer, “Fine” or “Good.” When we could be having a crappy day, but we have trained ourselves to respond a certain way or we just don’t want to spill our guts out to the person asking.

Over the next several weeks, we will cover numerous topics surrounding the act of lying. Will you use the above tips to help prepare for people who may lie to you or will you use them to lie to someone else?

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