Ted Talk: How to spot a liar, by Pamela Meyer

Pamela Meyer talks about how to spot a liar. She goes into the explanation of how we, as individuals have to be willing to be lied to. Lying is a cooperative action. Meaning it’s like a two way street. You have to be willing to except the lie that someone else is telling you. She talks about how lying is a way for people to connect, and how lying is something we wish we could be. She then goes into how studies show that you may be lied to 10 – 200 times a day, and how strangers lie three times within the first ten minutes of meeting them. We lie more to strangers then we do to our friends and family.

It amazes me how much we actually lie to each other. I do think that we lie to strangers more then we lie to our friends and family. From what she is saying I feel like we lie to each other to be liked by the other person. The need to be accepted by people is so strong that we will do anything to earn that acceptance, even lie to them about something that we never needed to lie to them about. I know that I personally do not like being lied to. I also know that not a lot of people can ever say they have never told a lie. If it’s to protect yourself, or maybe someone you love. It could be to protect that person from getting their feelings hurt. You could also be doing it for your own selfish need, there is lots of reasons that people lie. I just don’t understand why the need to do it is so strong.