Human Deception

Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is a tragic play set in 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts, where Miller uses the Salem Trials as a metaphor for the 1950s McCarthy hearings. In Salem, people value their good names. The Puritan community acts as a theocracy in which there appears to be no right to privacy, and people must conform to a strict moral code. The theme of reputation, lying, and deceit are shown in Abigail, John Proctor, Elizabeth Proctor, Mary Warren, and other characters. In the play’s dialogue, Miller uses Biblical allusions, situational irony, and dramatic irony to develop these themes.

A white lie derives from sympathy. It is told to avoid hurting someone’s feelings. We all believe this is better than telling the truth. But is telling a little white lie really the most effective option? Sometimes, we need to hear the truth. Ericsson says, “It is an act of subtle arrogance for any who decides what is best for someone else.” To avoid being honest with someone for the sake of their feelings is selfish. It does more damage than we think. People deserve to know the truth. So they are not misguided to a sense of false hope or confidence. This only leads to people over thinking and second guessing

“...ok to lie to avoid hurting someone’s feelings.” The people who believe lying is justified, usually say it’s ok to not tell the truth to cover someone’s feelings or to keep someone from being hurt mentally and/or physically. However in the long run, they may think it’s for the better but are still blatantly lying and could possibly cause even more damage than intended. “Apparently even white lies are acceptable, even necessary.” Everyone tells a white lie here and there, and if they’re lucky it won’t affect anyone, but why should it be risked? Just because we color code a lie doesn’t makes it kind of “ok.” Do we say a white lie is ok, and a yellow lie is bad, and a red lie is unacceptable?o, because a lie is lie in the end, whether is considered a “white lie” or just a lie. A person might tell a white lie, but gets caught so has to cover it with another lie again and again, and in the end turns out not to be considered a white lie anymore. Others who say it’s justified, have a different opinion on lying, but as a question, why should we lie when honesty is an option?Everyday people hear others lie and see how bad the outcome it could be, however still deliberately lie. When a person lies to you they don’t respect you in a way others don’t see, or when a person calls you a liar they insult your integrity. However, in vise versa if the opposite person lies to them they are being egocentric. So in the

A lie is considered a false statement given to fool someone. At some point throughout the day everyone will stretch the truth. Are lies just really some version of the truth or are they bold and deliberate? Lying is discussed in-depth in "The Ways We Lie" by Stephanie Ericsson and in the article "Is Lying Bad for Us" by Richard Gunderman. The two articles discuss the types of lies, reasons people lie and the consequences suffered by all. It can be determined after reading the texts that lying causes undue stress and telling the truth is beneficial in more ways than one.

A significant form of interpersonal communication that plays an enormous role in relationships is lying. Lying has evolved into a frequent practice in today’s society. Even though, lying seem to be fond upon, we all have done it multiple times for not just our benefit but for others. In relationships, lying is turned from a negative to positive act depending on the circumstances. It seems as if, you lie in attempt to help another person it’s celebrated than if you lie for your benefits. Lying is known to only mislead or give a false impression in which the false hood can only cause negative acts. Why does one enange in lying if the outcome is negative? The most found reason that people find themselves lying is because of the truth. It is said that many people lie because long-term the truth is worse than the short-term lie. Lying is judged off its cost and benefits. In each situation, there will be outcomes when it comes to the lies being told. Lying to those you have impersonal connection with has less of an impact than those you have an interpersonal relationships. Those that has an impersonal relationships is nearly never affected by the lies told because normally they do not see that person as often as those with the close bonds. I understand that lying can be beneficial in relationship of any kind, but I personally feel that the truth is preferred. There are two consequences that puts strain on the relationship. Termination is the last step in a relationship; there are

Even though being honest is a nice thing, but with a lie one can spare someone's feelings. Ericsson states “when my partner came home, his haggard face told me his day hadn't gone any better than mine, so when he asked “how was your day?” I said, “oh fine”, knowing that one more straw might break his back”(page#). In this quote the author shows how she spared her partner feelings by not truthfully telling him that her day wasn’t so great, because she knew that if she told him it would’ve made him worry. With a lie you can spare someone's feelings,but it still does not make you a honest person because you’re hiding how you truly feel just not to hurt

In her essay “The Ways We Lie” Stephanie Ericsson (2007) states different ways people lie in their lives and explains the reasons why people lie. Ericsson starts her essay, by explaining how she lied four times in just one day, and that she doesn’t feel guilty about doing it. Although at the same time she explains that everyone lies one way or another but there is no such a thing as a good lie. The author continues her contends by listing different types of lies people use in different situations such as: the white lie, facades, ignoring the plain facts, deflecting, omission, stereotypes and clichés, groupthink, out-and-out lies, dismissal, and finally delusion then she explains each in detail by providing examples.

To many people, a lie has little significance. Some people tell lies as a way to cover something up, make a different name for themselves, or just to make excuses. No matter what the situation, my father has constantly reminded me that the truth will set you free, and as I get older even though I am still in my youth, the more I realize the truth and importance of that statement. To me a lie is a form of disloyalty, the less you respect the person the more you lie to them as a way to cover up your true identity. A lie is when you mislead what is really the truth; where you don’t tell the full truth in order to deceive someone, or you avoid being honest at all. There are several different outcomes to

The challenge with lies is that they are unstructured and thus hard to detect unless there is some form of inconsistency in them. This shows that lying can sometimes help individuals get out of trouble. For instance, if a spouse was cheating, telling the truth may be more damaging than telling a lie. This is one depiction of how lying saves people from escalating the situation.

As a young child you were taught right from wrong. You were taught why you should not lie and why and how it could hurt someone. You saw how one lie could turn into many lies and how it is hard to keep covering for the first lie you told. Somehow the truth always surfaced whether by you admitting to the guilt or a teacher or a parent finding out the truth through evidence. As you became older you noticed that the term lie was now being used with the terms morality and ethics. Those terms basically mean right and wrong, sound familiar? The criminal justice system is supposed to be based on those two principles along with other things. Somewhere in the system those principles fall through the cracks for selfish reasons or selfish gain. The lives of individuals have become less worthy and the lying game has become everyday play.

For example, in the trial of the murder of Caylee Anthony, Casey Anthony, Caylee’s mother, repeatedly lied to the police during the investigation. “She lied about her nanny taking the child. She lied about working at Universal Studios” (Casarez). Her constant dishonesty mislead the investigation and delayed the final decision by the jury. Regardless of being distraught, as she described as her reason behind lying, Casey Anthony should not have “provid[ed] false information to law enforcement officers,” thus wasting their time, energy, and resources (Casarez). Anthony’s dishonest actions and her acquittal led to outrageous public backlash, thus proving that lying, despite the reasoning, is wrong and immoral. If Anthony had told the whole story with complete honesty, then perhaps the backlash after the trial would not have caused her to “live constantly on guard” to the point where “…she can't go out in public”

Human nature is prone to folly; men misjudge, and are deceived by others, but also they deceive themselves. From the beginning of history it has been so, and even in the origin stories of man this key element takes a central role. In the Christian creation story Adam disobeys his god, but his motives for doing so are not elaborated upon. It is Eve who is explicitly shown being deceived. This deception is somewhat instigated by satan, but truly it is a deception of self that is the tipping point. Eve has been told that they must not eat the fruit, but despite the evidence of the wrongness of it and the consequences which will occur, she still partakes of this first sin because she allows herself to believe that it is not wrong or that there will not be repercussions. She convinces herself to believe falsely despite the reality of the situation, and antithetical evidence. I believe that Nathaniel Hawthorne would agree; throughout history men place a veil over their own eyes, they see what they want to see, and that this causes them to both destroy themselves, and what they love most. I believe that this theme of self-deception is prominent in Hawthorne’s short stories, particularly “Rappaccini’s Daughter”, and just as Giovanni ignored the signs and warnings surrounding Beatrice thereby allowing himself to be warped by the cruel and cunning Rappaccini, just as Adam and Eve deceived themselves in the Garden of Eden, all men are

Thesis- What I found is that, while most people think that they are good at detecting lies, in reality, they are terrible at detecting lies. Today, I’m going to help you learn how to tell if someone is lying by first, showing you how frequently we encounter liars, second, revealing the secret to basic lie detection, and finally, arming you with a trick to trip up any liar.

To lie by omission is another way some people choose to tell a lie. To lie by omission means to intentionally omit a vital piece or pieces of information leaving the other person with a misconception. For instance, a wife asks her husband if he were at the night club, the husband tells his wife that he is working late, which is true, however, he omit’s the fact that he also visited the night club. Lying by omission undermines the truth. It is often used to manipulate someone into altering their behavior to suit the desire of the deceiver. The lie is not the words or lack of words; the omission is the intention of the deceiver. Lying by omission includes failures to correct pre- existing misconceptions.

Finally, we lie because we do not want to get hurt. An example is we protect our own feelings. They say that honesty is the best policy but this does not work all the time, we lie because the truth hurts. Another example is we protect our pride. Most of us do not want to tell the truth because we do not want to admit that we are wrong.