Lying Is Human...
When we ask ourselves if we always tell the pure truth, the answer often surprises us. Two lies a day sounds like a lot, but psychologist Bella DePaulo’s research found exactly that number. Looking closer, lying is complex: it includes self-deception, harmless fibs, exaggerations, distortions, withholding the truth, or white lies, just as much as planned, well-crafted deception or fraud. So, we can cut ourselves some slack: we’re not habitual liars, just sometimes steering the truth, sugarcoating, or caught in situations where honesty isn’t an option...
Further studies give a fuller picture of lying’s nature. A 2010 study by Kim Serota and colleagues surveyed 1,000 lies and found a similar average: participants told about 1.65 lies daily. But here’s an interesting twist.
Nearly 60% of respondents said they didn’t lie at all the previous day. Yet, just 5.3% of participants accounted for half of all lies told.
This means the average of two lies a day doesn’t mean most people lie often, but rather that a few chronic liars push the average up, while most people are generally honest. Since this was a one-time survey, we can’t draw sweeping conclusions from it either.
Serota, Timothy Levine, and Tony Docan-Morgan published a new study in 2021 in Communication Monographs. This time, they followed 632 college students for three months, with participants reporting daily how many lies they told.
Are We Really This Dishonest?
The average number of lies was similar to before, at 2.03 per day. The highest daily count was 200 (!) lies, but some people still reported not lying at all on certain days. Based on this, participants were grouped: honest folks told 0-2 lies daily, moderate fibbers admitted 3-5 lies, and frequent liars told six or more lies in a day. Most fell into the honest group, able to go extended periods without lying, showing that dishonesty isn’t a regular pattern in their lives.
These averages suggest we lie a lot. Even two lies a day feels like a lot, let alone six. But frequent fibbers also have honest days. Looking only at how many times we lie each day can paint a skewed picture, making the average seem higher than it feels.
Overall, researchers found most people strive for honesty, and lying is relatively rare in their lives. The numbers are pushed up by a few active liars who occasionally excel at fibbing.
Honesty itself isn’t just about avoiding lies — it means more. Lying is layered and context-dependent; it can sneak in unnoticed or be deliberately crafted to harm without conscience. These studies highlight that, fundamentally, we can trust each other, and methodical liars are thankfully rare encounters.
