DID YOU TELL THREE LIES TODAY?
By Olivene Godfrey
Years ago, I read that the average person does tell three lies a day --or more than a 1,000 a year. The article didn't say if some of those lies were, "little white" lies." I wonder if that survey would still be true today. I learned early in life that while some people I knew could lie convincingly., I could not. The only time I ever tried to lie to my mother convinced me that I was a total failure as a liar. After I finished my Big Lie, which I thought at the time was a rather clever spiel, Mother calmly said, "Now let's have the truth."
Ever since Eve, people have been prone to telling lies. But, only in recent years have psychiatrists, psychologists, and physiologist teamed upto learn what makes a liar tick.
I've read that the tendency to lie varies greatly from person to person. High on the list of generally truthful people are scientists, laboratory workers, architects and engineers-- individuals who work with precise measurements in which a millimeter can't be evaded or denied.
On the other hand, actors, politicians, press agents, artists, sculptors, authors and musicians rate considerably lower, due, perhaps to their heightened imaginations. Professional criminals are in a class by themselves and many of them are psychotic, and inveterate lying is a symptom of their mental abberations. Only extensive psychiatric treatment can help the pathological liar.
Lying can make your life complicated. The liar needs a good memory. And usually when you tell one lie you have to go on lying to cover the original lie. Then, telling a lie involves real work for the body. Your metabolism, pulse rate, blood pressure, and respiration speed up --and your eyes do tend to get shifty.
Fortunately, we have it in our power to keep lying to a minimum in our children. Researchers have found that the single most powerful incentive to truth-telling is a home in which all the family members speak their minds. Too many children lie to cover up errors. When they realize their parents can err, too, the incentive to fib is diminished.
See you next time.
By Olivene Godfrey
Years ago, I read that the average person does tell three lies a day --or more than a 1,000 a year. The article didn't say if some of those lies were, "little white" lies." I wonder if that survey would still be true today. I learned early in life that while some people I knew could lie convincingly., I could not. The only time I ever tried to lie to my mother convinced me that I was a total failure as a liar. After I finished my Big Lie, which I thought at the time was a rather clever spiel, Mother calmly said, "Now let's have the truth."
Ever since Eve, people have been prone to telling lies. But, only in recent years have psychiatrists, psychologists, and physiologist teamed upto learn what makes a liar tick.
I've read that the tendency to lie varies greatly from person to person. High on the list of generally truthful people are scientists, laboratory workers, architects and engineers-- individuals who work with precise measurements in which a millimeter can't be evaded or denied.
On the other hand, actors, politicians, press agents, artists, sculptors, authors and musicians rate considerably lower, due, perhaps to their heightened imaginations. Professional criminals are in a class by themselves and many of them are psychotic, and inveterate lying is a symptom of their mental abberations. Only extensive psychiatric treatment can help the pathological liar.
Lying can make your life complicated. The liar needs a good memory. And usually when you tell one lie you have to go on lying to cover the original lie. Then, telling a lie involves real work for the body. Your metabolism, pulse rate, blood pressure, and respiration speed up --and your eyes do tend to get shifty.
Fortunately, we have it in our power to keep lying to a minimum in our children. Researchers have found that the single most powerful incentive to truth-telling is a home in which all the family members speak their minds. Too many children lie to cover up errors. When they realize their parents can err, too, the incentive to fib is diminished.
See you next time.
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