Everybody lies, but when it become pathological, that’s when it becomes a problem. People lie for many different reasons, but studies done with those who lie pathologically have shown that they have very different motives than the average liar. For example, a pathological liar uses deception to get ahead in life; they manipulate others with their lies in order to gain power (Grover, 1980; Hample, 1980; Spence, 2004). One study found that pathological liars are more satisfied with their lies than they are with themselves (Hample, 1980). Hample (1980) also says that these lies occur when rewards are grand and assured.
Lies are also told when there are social conflicts (Grover, 1993). For example, the time allotted to a nurse for a task might not be sufficient enough, so he may falsify vital signs of a patient in order to finish on time. In this case performance pressure is the cause for the deception (Grover, 1993). If the nurse is constantly under performance pressure, then he will need to constantly lie, or face social conflict. Frequent lying can actually make deception easier over time (Hample, 1980; Verschuere, Spruyt, Meijer, & Otgaar, 2011), so social conflict combined with this fact, may be the reason why individuals keep up their lies for so long.
Pathological lying may be due to a lack of self control (Beaver, Wright, & DeLisi, 2007; Spence, 2004; Verschuere, Spruty, Meijer, & Otgaar, 2011). This executive function influences many factors of one’s life, including the choice to deceive others, or tell the truth. Spence (2004) suggests that pathological lying occurs because these individuals have poor emotional and behavioural control, as well as poor information management.
Though liars may have poor functioning in these areas, there are other cognitive areas that have perfect functioning that assist them in their lying schemes. The liar is able to analyze other’s responses, as well as their own, quite well, and they have the ability to understand other’s beliefs as well (Spence 2004; Poletti, Borelli, & Bonuccelli, 2007). This allows the liar to manipulate their victims quite easily. In fact, studies have found that telling the truth is the default cognitive process, and lying requires extra cognitive activity and processes (Spence, 2004; Spence et al, 2004). Thus, liars have to engage in ‘higher’ cognitive processes involved with intention and purpose to be able to lie efficiently (Spence et al., 2004).
The impact of lying seems quite obvious to most people, but as I mentioned previously, pathological liars deceive others to gain power or rewards that they deem greater than social exclusion. Some consequences of lying in social interactions include mistrust from others, broken relationships, loss of employment and negative physical interactions, such as fights, if caught in a lie (Meltzer, 2003).
Pathological lying is more complex than most may think. It involves poor functioning in a few executive functions such as behavioural and emotional control, as well as information management. Executive functions such as Theory of Mind and the ability to analyze the responses of other’s, and themselves, very accurately are also involved. Deception favours the one who is lying in most cases, and causes harm to the victim, but the liar also does not care in these situations because the rewards outweigh the costs for them. Overall, lying is something everyone experiences, and if you don’t think it’s happening to you, then it sounds like the liar is doing a pretty good job at manipulating you.
Spence, S. A., Hunter, M. D., Farrow, T. F., Green, R. D., Leung, D. H., Hughes, C. J., & Ganesan, V. (2004). A cognitive neurobiological account of deception: evidence from functional neuroimaging. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci, 359(1451), 1755-1762.
Meltzer, B. M. (2003). Lying: Deception in human affairs. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 23(6/7), 61-79.
Verschuere, B., Spruyt, A., Meijer, E. H., & Otgaar, H. (2011). The ease of lying. Consciousness and cognition, 20(3), 908-911.
Grover, S. L. (1993). Lying, deceit, and subterfuge: A model of dishonesty in the workplace. Organization science, 4(3), 478-495.
Spence, S. A. (2004). The deceptive brain. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 97(1), 6-9.
Beaver, K. M., Wright, J. P., & DeLisi, M. (2007). Self-control as an executive function: Reformulating Gottfredson and Hirschi’s parental socialization thesis. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 34(10), 1345-1361.
Poletti, M., Borelli, P., & Bonuccelli, U. (2011). The neuropsychological correlates of pathological lying: evidence from behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia. Journal of neurology, 258(11), 2009-2013.
Hample, D. (1980). Purposes and effects of lying. Southern Speech Communication Journal, 46(1), 33-47.
ronaischafer 
Such an interesting topic, Ronai!!
Your most made me wonder if pathological lying could be a symptom of another mental disorder or disorders. I looked into this and found a study that comments that perhaps pathological lying could be a symptom of impulse control disorders or an impulse control disorder on its own, although further research is needed; it is not classified as a separate disorder in the DSM. The article also mentions that these symptoms of “pathological lying” exhibited by individuals with mental disorders may not be considered pathological liars at all, because most contain a motive or purpose. Pathological lying is indeed interesting because it seems to be more of an independent behaviour rather than a symptom of something else, and perhaps certain personality traits (such as manipulative, since you mentioned many pathological liars lie to manipulate others) are causes for this behaviour. The authors also mention that low self-esteem and development of the false-self may be causes of this behaviour.
Muzinic, L., Kozaric-Kovacic, D., Marinic, I. (2016). Psychiatric aspects of normal and pathological lying. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 46, 88-93. doi:10.1016/j.ijlp.2016.02.036
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Ronai, I love your topic. While reading, I realized that Frank Underwood from ‘House of Cards’ is a good example of how pathological liar use deception to get ahead in life. A study by Yang et al (2005) assessed whether deceitful individuals show structural abnormalities in prefrontal grey and white matter volume. Since studies have shown increased bilateral activation in the prefrontal cortex when normal individual lie. The results showed that pathological liars had a 22-26% increase in prefrontal white matter and 36-42% reduction in the prefrontal grey/white ratios compared with both antisocial and normal groups. These results show that there is a structural brain deficit in pathological liars. I think that people who are pathological liars experienced childhood trauma. Children lie to escape punishment. So, children from a dysfunctional home are more likely to lie to escape severe punishment and as a result, see lying as a good thing and become pathological liars. What do you think?
http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/187/4/320.full-text.pdf+html
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