Santa Clause

Santa Clause is a popular person amongst kids. Santa Clause is an even more popular lie amongst those adults. For years parents have been lying to their kids saying that Santa Clause is a real person when in reality the parents are Santa Clause. Now personally, I don't think this is a bad lie to tell. Feeling that excitement when Christmas season comes around, hoping to catch a peek at Santa Clause, writing him letters, its all a good time. This is the one lie that I believe is okay to tell because it is apart of everyone's childhood and gives joy and hope to children.

Lying By Omission

Have you ever told a story and left out information because you didn't want the other person to know that part? Did you consider this a lie? If you didn't consider this a lie then you are wrong. Leaving out information would be a lie by omission. There are many reasons to leave out information when telling other people something. The main reasoning is what they don't know won't hurt them, right? Wrong. A lie by omission is still just as bad as a regular lie. You're still fudging the truth and not telling the other person the whole story.

Stereotypes

Stereotypes. There are so many stereotypes in today's society, from dumb blondes to asians being good at math and everywhere in between. The real question is, are stereotypes a form of lying? In my personal opinion they are lies. Every stereotype has the ability to be disproven. There needs to be just one person in the world to break the stereotype in order for it to become a lie. In reality, stereotypes only exist because we choose to cooperate with the lie about that group of people. So if we stopped cooperating with the lies then the stereotypes would stop and we would no longer have to keep disproving them.

Cheating

In Dan Ariely's TED Talk "Our Buggy Moral Code" he talks about the topic of cheating. Ariely conducted an experiment where he would give test subjects a simple math test with 20 questions on it and the subjects had 5 minutes to complete as many as they can and for every question they got right they would get a dollar. However, at the end Ariely would have them shred the test and have the subjects tell him what they got, giving them the chance to cheat. On average most people would answer about 4 questions but after shredding they would say they got an average of 7 questions right. All of these people cheated because they were given the chance to cheat. In my personal opinion cheating is a form of deception driven by a motivation. The motivation is usually to better on a test or get the job. In this case the participants cheated because they wanted the money that Ariely was offering them. 
 

Little White Lies

At least one time in everyone's life they have told a little white lie. From the common "I'm on my way" when they haven't even left their house yet to "No you don't look bad in that." Everyone has said a lie in their life time. There are different motivations for lying. One motive can be to protect someone's feelings another reason is to protect yourself from getting in trouble. In personal experience, my motive for telling little white lies is to protect myself from getting in trouble and they have worked so far.

Why We Cooperate with Liars by Meyers

In Pamela Meyers' TED Talk "How to Spot a Liar" she states that lying is a cooperative act. When this statement was said I stopped to think how many times I knew someone was lying to me but I still went along with it. After I figured out a number I asked myself "why did I go along with the lie?" That question was answered by a quote from Henry Oberlander that Meyers said in her podcast stating that "Everyone is willing to give you something for whatever it is they're hungry for." This means that everyone is willing to cooperate if they are getting something they want/need in return for cooperating with the lie. That statement is 100% true in my case, every time I have cooperated with a lie it was because I knew I would get something in return for cooperating.

Lie Spotting from Meyers

Everyone lies, some people lie more than others but no matter what everyone lies. In Pamela Meyers TED Talk "How to Spot a Liar" she says people will tell a lie anywhere from 10-200 times a day. After stating that fact about lying, Meyers goes on to give tips on how to spot when a person is lying. One tip is that when someone is lying they tend to be more proper using do not and can not instead of don't and can't. Another tip is that the liar distance themselves from the act or person that they are lying about. The final tip is the duping smile, this is when the liar thinks they are getting away with the lie so they start to get a little smirk. These tips are useful in spotting a liar and useful in life since everyone lies.