The art of deception by pathological liars.
Most people can safely say that they try not to cheat. But there are those among us who constantly distort information and tell lies. They are called pathological liars. Some of them understand that they are lying, while others completely and sincerely believe that they are telling the truth.
A pathological liar is a person with a particular tendency to convey false information and distort reality. They have an acute tendency to distort reality and should be perceived as suffering from a general mental disorder. Their deceitfulness can be called chronic, in that it occurs throughout life, or habitual, in the sense that it becomes second nature.
Causes of this Behavior
Personality disorders. A symptom of a mental disorder may be that a person lies at every turn.
Low self-esteem. A person makes up attractive stories to make themself seem more interesting to talk to. You don’t even need to ask them questions for them to tell their stories. Their main objective is to get your attention.
Other psychological problems. Someone who lies frequently may suffer from depression, anxiety, or obsessive-compulsive disorder. Lying may be associated with mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. This behavior can be associated with fear, guilt, or shame.
Features of the Brain.
In 2005, the first evidence was found that the brain of a pathological liar has certain differences. Researchers at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, led by Yeling Yang and Adrian Rane from the College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, conducted a study among a group of volunteers aged 21 to 45 years. When analyzing the brain function of liars, structural abnormalities were revealed.
In their prefrontal cortex, the volume of gray matter (neurons) was reduced, while white matter (these are the nerve fibers that connect parts of the brain) increased by 22 percent. This part of the brain is associated with both learning moral behavior and the feeling of remorse. Gray matter consists of brain cells, and white matter is like a “connecting wire” between them. Excess white matter increases the ability of pathological liars to lie and weakens their moral inhibition.
How to Recognize a Pathological Liar
- These people lie at every turn with or without reason
- They are not tormented by remorse, and they continue, looking into the eyes of their interlocutor, to develop their fantasies.
- It is difficult for them to control their fantasy, and they often change the content of the same story.
- Their stories may be illogical.
- As they grow older, the pathology only increases, and it is difficult for such people to change their tendencies.
- Their fables can be so absurd that only they themselves do not see the meaninglessness of their statements.
- If you try to catch such a person in a lie, you may encounter aggression, since they consider themselves always in the right.
- They lie to strengthen their authority.
- They don’t blush or feel embarrassed while lying.
- They prefer "holy" lies that others believe they would like to hear.
- They sense other people's distrust and modify their lies to suit their objective of deception.
Signs of Pathological Lying
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