The 15 types of lies and their characteristics

We all lie on more than one occasion, even if we don't want to admit it. For better or for worse, every day we tell a lie that, although it may be pious or well-intentioned, is still communicating information that is not real.

Linguistically speaking, lying is a transgression of communication, since we say information that does not correspond to reality. The intention and awareness behind the act may vary, but the truth is that not telling the truth is, in effect, lying.

Since not all lies are the same, next we are going to find out what they are the 15 most common types of lies, in addition to seeing some situations in which they can appear.

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It is hard for us to admit, lying is part of the human condition. In fact, not acknowledging it is in itself a lie. Our species has the gift of communicating through words and, also, of deceiving through them, since that is what lying consists of: transmitting information that is not true. It is true that we do not lie in the same way, nor do we do it with the same intention. It all depends on the context, and we may deliberately tell a lie, with malicious intent, or without even realizing that we have told one.

Basically, we understand a lie as an expression or manifestation contrary to reality or, at the very least, partially false information. The act of lying involves saying something that does not correspond to actual acts, regardless of whether or not we know that what we are saying is a lie. In most cases intentional lies, in order to deceive someone, pretend something that is not, manipulate, persuade or prevent our listener from suffering when knowing reality.

Whether they are half truths or outright lies, it is estimated that each of us lies at least one to three times a day. We are not the only ones: all the people around us lie to us and, depending on how many people we interact with and if they tend to lie a lot, pWe may face between 10 and 200 lies every day. We must not get conspiranoid and think that they do it with bad intentions, since we even believe our lies. They are not all the same.

As the reasons behind lying can be very varied and, also, the way in which we transmit information that is not real is very different, we can affirm that there are many types of lies. Each of them has its peculiarities, which we will see in detail below, although it must be taken into account that some of these categories overlap each other.

1. Lies by mistake

As the name suggests, lies by mistake are those communicative acts in which we lie without realizing it. They are not deliberate or premeditated lies, it simply happens that the person who has said something is convinced that she has said something true, even though he is not.

This type of lie is very common, since it usually happens that we talk about a topic that we do not have all of the details or that there have been events that have changed the reality that we believe is still going on current. Our knowledge is still contextual and, if the context changes, the data we handle is out of date, so transmitting it means communicating information that is no longer valid.

2. White Lies

The white lies, also called little lies, they are lies that are made with good intention, so as not to harm other people.

They are closely associated with white lies (in fact, depending on the context, they can be considered synonymous) and are related to the development of the capacity for empathy, from the age of 7. Younger children are not able to lie white.

3. Blue lies

The blue lies are those that are halfway between the concepts of good and evil. Since both ideas are very subjective, it is difficult to define to what extent a lie is really blue, varying depending on our moral and ethical perspective.

The blue lies are deceptions that we express to achieve a benefit for our in-group but detrimental to the out-group. An illustrative example would be that of a soccer player who manages to deceive the referee saying that a rival player has been missing him. By doing this, you harm the other team and benefit yours.

4. Black lies

Black lies are clearly at the pole of evil, in the case of deceptions that we do to obtain a benefit for ourselves by harming other people. The only beneficiaries are us, selfishness being the typical trait associated with this type of language transgression.

5. Lies by omission

The lies by omission are those that occur when we do not express all the information. We don't really tell false information, but the act of hiding some of the relevant information helps the other person fill in the gaps with what they believe, which can be considered lying. These kinds of deliberate lies are closely associated with the act of persuading.

6. Restructuring lies

In restructuring lies, what happens is that we do not invent false information or hide part of the truth by omission, but we do change the context. In doing so, we help that information be seen under a certain prism, which allows the listener to interpret it in a way that interests us.

Restructuring lies are very common both in politics and on social media, especially when it comes to broadcasting hoaxes. If information about an act, person or event is published in a certain order, we help the listener to make his own story.

7. Denial lies

Denial lies are those in which a truth is simply not recognized. To deny something that we know to be true is obviously lying and this can be applied both interpersonally, that is, denying the truth to someone, such as intrapersonally, lying to ourselves ourselves.

The counterpart of this type of lies are those of affirmation, those in which an event or act that did not happen is affirmed. It simply consists of confirming a lie, saying that something happened when in fact it did not. In other words, make up facts.

8. Lies of exaggeration

The lies of exaggeration rely on the use of hyperbole that consists of magnifying a situation. The reality is not presented as it happened, but specific events are exaggerated so that the information told seems more interesting or that the person involved seems more successful and capable, usually being the transmitter.

This is one of the most common lies given its great utility. It is usually common in situations in which we are interested in people having a more positive and better idea of ​​us, For example, in a job interview or when a grandfather tells his grandchildren about the battles of his youth.

9. Minimization lies

We can speak of minimization lies as the opposite of exaggeration. As their name suggests, they are the kind of lies in which we reduce the importance of something, minimizing its qualities and attributes.

This can be done both to surround ourselves with humility and to belittle a situation in which we do not like the people involved.

10. Self-deception

Self-deception is the act of lying to oneself, being very common to tell lies of the exaggeration and minimization type. These are lies that we unconsciously tell ourselves and on many occasions they are often said because we do not want to accept reality, either out of fear of consequences of our actions or because we need to believe in something that we rationally know is not truth. An example of self-deception is that of many smokers, who tell themselves that "it really isn't as bad as they say."

• You may be interested in: "Rationalization: what it is and how it influences our thinking"

11. Instrumental lies

We know as instrumental or deliberate lies those that we tell with an intentional objective. It really is a category in which we can include different types of lies, all those that are done deliberately.

Among them we can find those of a benevolent character, as is the case of white lies, such as those that they are made to persuade or deceive, as would be the case of restructuring, omission, blue lies, black ...

12. White lies

The white lies They are well-intentioned lies, the ones we tell to keep someone from feeling bad. They are deliberate lies, since we know that what we are saying is not true, but we say it because we do not want to hurt their feelings, so we can say that empathy and intelligence are involved in this form of lying emotional.

An example of a white lie would be telling a 4-year-old that, after we have drawn a picture, we think he is very pretty. The creature has done his work with very good intention, but what has come out is something more typical of an alternative art exhibition, that is to say, ugly. As telling him that what he has done is not pretty would hurt him, the best thing is to lie to him piously.

13. Broken promises

Broken promises are lies as long as the issuer agrees to do something but knows that he will not keep it or believes that it is unlikely that he will. They are transgressions of the act of communicating by the fact that the listener is informed of an event that has not yet happened, but believes that it will happen and that he expects it to happen.

14. Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the act of copying someone else's work by posing as our own. This act is doubly despicable because, first, because It's an intentional lie saying that we've actually done not and, secondly, because taking someone else's work without his permission is stealing.

15. Compulsive lies

Compulsive lies are those deceptions that are told repeatedly over and over again, typical of compulsive liars. In itself it is not a modality, but simply the fact of constantly telling lies and can have behind a problem of low self-esteem or psychological problems.

Whoever tells compulsive lies does not have to be doing it in bad faith, but because he really has a problem that requires professional intervention to correct it. In fact, there are cases of people who are unable to stop lying, reaching the point where they are not able to control what their mouth says.