lies

Telling Lies (A)

Most people would probably say that they hate it when someone lies to them. However, telling small lies, called fibs, is common. For example, have you ever told a friend that his or her hair style looks good, when actually, you thought it looked terrible? This is an example of a fib.

Researchers did a study on lying and found that lies are a part of everyday life. For instance, sometimes students will tell a lie in order to get a better grade, or a worker will tell the boss a lie in order to get a promotion. However, those are not the most common type of lies. More often, people he in order to get other people to respect them. For example, let's say you exercise 4 days a week for about 40 minutes. If you want to impress a friend, you might tell him, "I exercise almost every day by jogging or by playing tennis for one hour." You didn't really tell the truth; you told this little lie because it made you feel good about yourself. This is the most common type of lie.

Questions

What is a fib?

What is an example of a fib?

What is the most common types of lie?

Is lying to make you feel good quite common?

Telling Lies B

This is the second part of the article about telling lies. Researchers found that there are two types of lies. The first type is the "self-centered" lie. This is a lie that we tell to help ourselves or to make ourselves look important.

We also tell self-centered lies because we're embarrassed. For example, let's say you borrowed your friend's bicycle and you accidentally broke something on it. When you return the bike to your friend, you tell your friend that part of the bike was broken before you got it. This is a self-centered lie; you told it because you were embarrassed, or because you didn't want to pay for the repairs. In general, the self-centered lie is one of the most common types people tell.

The second type of lie is most common among women. It's called the "polite" lie. We tell this lie to make another person feel good. For example, let's say you hate snow and cold weather. One day there's a snowstorm in your town. You meet your friend who loves skiing, and she says, "Isn't this snow wonderful!" You answer by saying, "Yes, it's great," even though you think it's awful. This is an example of a "polite" lie.

Questions

Why do people tell self-centered lies?

Are self-centered lies uncommon?

What type of lie is the most common among women?

Give an example of a polite lie?

Telling Lies C

According to our research, extroverts tell more lies than introverts. Extroverts are people who like to spend a lot of time talking with other people. Introverts are people who prefer quiet time alone reading or with just one or two other people. Introverts tell fewer lies than extroverts. Our research also found that people who worry about what others think of them tell more lies than those who don't.

Here's some other information we learned from the research. People don't think small lies are serious, they don't usually plan in advance to tell lies, and most people don't worry about getting caught telling a lie.

After doing our research, however, we believe that some lies are serious. For example, let's say you want to sell your car, which has a problem with its engine. In order to sell it at a high price, you might tell a lie by saying that your car has no problems. In this case, you influenced someone to do something by telling a lie. That is a serious lie.

Finally, our research suggests that being honest all the time isn't a good idea. When we insist on telling the truth, we can hurt other people's feelings. If we were always completely honest, we might not have many friends.

Questions

What do you call people who talk a lot with other people?

Who tells more lies, introverts or extroverts?

Do people usually plan to tell les in advance?

What is example of a serious lie?

Why are lies sometimes a goo idea?

ESSAY questions

Do you think people in your country are usually honest or do they often tell polite lies?   Give some examples.

In general, do you trust your friends to always tell you the truth, or do you think they sometimes lie to you?

Do you worry about people lying to you?  if so, in what kind of situation?