Lying as Norm in Social Interactions

The acceptability of lying has been, and remains, an intensely debated philosophical and moral issue; however, there is nonetheless a growing body of research supporting the idea that lying is indeed a part of everyday life and social [Page 627]interactions. Deception prevalence studies with college student and community member participants have reported that people lie about one to two times a day. Lying is like other communication behaviors in that it is often goal-oriented, and people lie in everyday life for many reasons and to achieve various goals. One prevalent reason lying is a norm in North American society is because politeness is generally an upheld value. Thus, people are even encouraged to lie in certain situations in order to protect others' feelings and to be polite. Although some may view any and all lies as immoral, others argue that telling only the truth, and nothing but the truth, can incur great harm to oneself and others.

One might ask, “Is deception really a norm in social interactions?” One way to answer this question is to determine how often people lie during social interactions in daily life. The most-cited deception prevalence study was conducted by Bella DePaulo and her colleagues and was first published in 1996. In this study, 77 college students and 70 people recruited from the community completed a diary entry every time they lied to another person. Overall, the study found that college students lied about twice a day, which was about once in every three social interactions. The community members lied about once a day, which was about once in every five social interactions.

Since this hallmark study, social scientific studies regarding the prevalence of deception in social life typically also ask participants to complete diary entries in a small book or electronic device every time they lie to another person. The participants are also usually asked to include details regarding the context of the lie, such as to whom the lie was told, the nature of the relationship, the topic of the lie, and/or their motive for telling the lie. Numerous other studies have addressed the prevalence of lying in social interaction and have generally found similar results. However, Kim B. Serota, Timothy R. Levine, and Franklin J. Boster's reanalysis of numerous deception studies found that on average, people tend to lie one to two times a day, but most people tell few or no lies a day and a few people tell more lies per day. Accordingly, while individual differences affect rates of lying per day, deception does appear to be a part of social interaction.