ABSTRACT
Most expect to be lied to, and most people lie, though they generally underestimate how often they themselves lie. Lying starts young and children lie much more often than their parents imagine. Many compulsive liars want to be caught. In studying the Barnum Effect, psychologists have found people to be more gullible if the messages are mostly positive. People prefer positive messages, but will accept negative ones if they are not overwhelmingly negative. Salespeople, psychics, detectives, and interviewers use cold reading to convince people they know much more about them than they actually do. Most lies are harmless; some even meant to make the listener feel better; and many are designed to protect. In general, people lie less to those they are close to. A person who points out every little social lie would seem rather odd, like the television detective Monk; and he too might even be diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome.
