The 15 types of lies (and how to identify them)

Nobody likes to be branded as a liar. Lying is a highly punished behavior socially and is often associated with badness and bad intentions. Paradoxically, there is not a single person in the world who has never lied in her life. In fact, most of us do it on a daily basis, sometimes so automatically that we are not even aware of it.

Lying can take many forms and can appear in multiple situations with various triggers. That is, we never lie following the same dynamics or motivation. Despite the negative view of the act of lying, sometimes it is a protective mechanism for ourselves and also for others. Furthermore, lying does not always require telling something false, because sometimes it is enough to just tell a part of the truth.

This may be necessary in certain social situations where telling the whole truth would be counterproductive. for our relationships and our lives in general. When we have just met someone, the lie also allows us to keep personal matters private and even transmit a favorable image to the other. This is important in order to protect our privacy without overexposing ourselves and making a good impression.

Let's think about examples from everyday life: when a family member asks us if he liked a gift that horrifies us, when our boss asks us if we mind doing a couple of extra hours, when we have an appointment and we don't want go... In all these situations the most common is that we lie. The lie should really be analyzed in the context where it occurs, since sometimes it is an indicator that we understand how others think and react, and, therefore, that we have learned the rules of the game of relationships with others.

If you identify with the situations that we have recounted and want to know a little more about the human tendency to lie, in this article we are going to review the different types of lies and analyze why they occur and what exactly they consist of.

• We recommend you read: "The 100 most famous phrases about lies"

What kinds of lies are there?

As we have just anticipated, there are many types of lies. Here we have decided to collect the fifteen most frequent types and the function of each one.

1. White lies

People don't always lie for a selfish or malicious purpose. There are people who, due to their great emotional intelligence, are capable of assessing certain situations in which lying is the most appropriate. In life it is common to run into complicated scenarios in which not telling the truth is necessary. Generally, the white lies try to avoid suffering or pain for other people. For example, if a friend asks us if he is attractive in these new clothes that we do not like at all, we will probably lie to him to avoid hurting him and make him feel confident.

2. Intentional lies

These types of lies are those that are carried out intentionally, usually with selfish or malevolent objectives. An example of this could be lying to a shop assistant telling her that we want to return a garment that we have actually used.

3. Lies by omission of the truth

Sometimes lying does not require reporting false information, but rather hiding parts of the truth that are important. This type of lie is frequent when we try to convince or persuade someone of something. We try to offer the part of reality that best suits us, hiding the one that is least favorable to us.

4. Self-deception

This type of lie has a particular characteristic and that is that it is directed at oneself. That is why it is usually an unconscious process that acts as a protective mechanism. Reality as it is can be painful, so lying to ourselves reduces cognitive dissonance and, therefore, discomfort.

5. Rumors

Everyone at some point has heard rumors or gossip about other people. Unfortunately, it is not known for sure if this information is true or not. This kind of lie is something like the game of the freaking phone, in which a series of people go transmitting a message that ends up being distorted by word of mouth, damaging many times the protagonists of the history.

6. Exaggeration

Lying sometimes has to do with modifying the scale of the facts that are told. Sometimes something that has happened deliberately is magnified to generate interest or attention, but other times we exaggerate a story without being conscious. This has to do with the way in which we retrieve information from our memory, since this process is influenced by our emotions. If we are recounting a scene that we live very funny, it is likely that we magnify some parts without being conscious due to this bias.

7. Copy or plagiarism

This type of lie can constitute a crime, since it consists of appropriating other people's ideas or works to pass them off as your own. It is a clearly malicious lie, where the person seeks to profit at the expense of the efforts of others.

8. Compulsive lies

This type of lies imply the existence of a psychological disorder, since the person lies repeatedly and almost automatically, even in situations in which the lie does not report any benefit. This type of lie is usually common in people with poor self-esteem, who need to build a reality parallel to their own to try to please others.

9. Broken promises

There are many promises that are made and then never come to be fulfilled. This can be considered one more type of lie, which can also have serious repercussions on the relationship we have with the person we have failed. Breaking a promise erodes trust. Feeling cheated, especially by someone we love, can be very painful.

10. Deceptive lie

Lies of this type consist of statements that, being true, can lead to confusion due to their ambiguity. We also speak of deceptive lies when the person tries to divert attention to another issue or omit important parts of the facts that he knows. An example of this are scams, where many times a product is sold with certain conditions without leaving the fine print very clear.

11. Utilitarian lie

These kinds of lies are carried out for purely practical and selfish reasons. They allow the person to avoid negative consequences or take advantage of a situation. An example of this may be pretending to be sick so as not to go to work.

12. Compensatory lie

Lies of this type are carried out because the person needs to cover up her reality, adorn her or manipulate her to favor her image in the face of others. It is closely related to compulsive lying, since in this case it is also possible to speak of an underlying psychological discomfort.

13. Translation lie

This kind of lies They seek to attribute a merit or responsibility to another person. The most frequent translation lie has to do with guilt, since by lying it is possible to transfer the responsibility for a fact to another person. Of course, this lie hides a bad intention, in which whoever is really responsible does not assume the consequences of his actions.

14. Lantern

A bluff consists of simulating an intention or ability that, in reality, does not exist. It is a strategy that allows other people to be confused. We see an example of this in kidnappings where the kidnappers threaten to kill their hostage if they do not receive the money they ask for. Although the intention may be real, these threats are often simple bluffs with the ultimate goal of achieving that gain.

15. Elusion

Avoidance has to do with keeping your opinion on certain controversial issues hidden for different reasons. For example, in politics it is common for people not to indicate which political party they are going to vote for during elections.

Conclusions

In this article we have reviewed the different types of lies that exist, their function and the situations in which each of them takes place. Lying is a phenomenon that has been widely studied in psychology, due to the enormous interest it arouses in the general population. This is a very contradictory question, since it is surrounded by taboo and at the same time it is a natural response in all human beings.

The point of this article is not simply to stay on the surface, as we all know what lying is. Actually, it is about seeing in the lie an indicator that can give us valuable information about the person. For example, those who lie in a pious way are showing large doses of empathy and assertiveness with others. In the same way, compulsive lying can tell us about a very damaged self-esteem.

For its part, self-deception can give us a clue of how a complicated situation may be affecting a person at a given moment. And of course, a utilitarian or clearly intentional lie teaches us that this person is not to be trusted because he only looks out for his own selfish interests. The lie is not only something natural in us, but it is useful, necessary and informative.