Lies and Feelings

Lecture



The inability to think over and rehearse the line of conduct in advance is only one of the reasons why mistakes are made that give signs of deception. Much more mistakes are due to emotions that are difficult to fake or hide. Not all lies are accompanied by emotions, but if this happens, it presents particular difficulties for the liar. Attempting to hide the surging emotions can be found in words, but cases of such reservations are quite rare. It’s usually not so difficult not to say anything about your feelings, but it’s not so easy to hide the expression on your face, hold back the breathing, or get rid of the sudden lump in your throat.
It happens involuntarily, literally in some fractions of a second, leaving no choice or time to think. In the novel Let's marry, when Jerry accused Ruth of lying, it was not difficult for her to keep the words ready to break out of her lips: “Yes, it's true!” But she was overcome by panic because her betrayal was revealed, and this panic was expressed in certain visible and audible signs. Panic began against her will, and she could not stop her. Her condition was out of control. Such, I suppose, is the nature of emotional experience in general.
People experience emotions not by their own arbitrariness. On the contrary, emotions capture people; and fear and anger arise beyond their will. But people not only do not choose their emotions, they still cannot control their external manifestations of their own will. Ruth couldn't just stop panic. She had no button to press and stop the emotional reaction. Sometimes there is no way to control their actions, especially if the surging emotions are very strong. Often, this even explains many bad deeds, although this is not always forgivable: “I didn’t want to shout (beat on the table, insult, hit you), but I was not myself. I could not help myself. ”
When an emotion grows gradually, starting with a small one (rather annoyance rather than rage), changes in behavior are small and it is relatively easy to hide them, especially if a person is aware of his feelings. However, for most people this is not the case. If an emotion does not arise suddenly and is not particularly strong, it may seem noticeable to others rather than to the person experiencing it, at least until it becomes more intense. But strong emotions are harder to control. In addition, in order to hide intonation, facial expressions or specific body movements that occur during emotional arousal, a certain struggle with oneself is required, with the result that even in case of successful concealment of feelings experienced in reality, efforts aimed at this can be noticeable, which will appear turn a sign of deception.
It is not easy to hide emotions, but it is no less difficult to falsify them, even if this is not done by the need to cover up the real one with a false emotion. It takes a little more than to just say: I'm angry or I'm afraid. If a deceiver wants to be believed, he must look appropriately, and his voice really sounds scared or angry. It’s not so easy to choose the gestures or voice intonation necessary for successful falsification of emotions. In addition, very few people can manage their facial expressions (see Chapter 4, "Mimic signs of deception"). And for successful falsification of grief, fear or anger, very good mastery of facial expressions is necessary.
Falsifying emotions is even harder when it is done with the goal of hiding the actual feeling experienced. Looking angry and so hard enough, but if at this time a person feels fear, it can just break off from emotions. Fear pushes a person to some external manifestations, and an attempt to appear angry - to others. Eyebrows, for example, from fear unwittingly soar upward. In order to fake anger, a person needs to lower them. Often, signs of such an internal struggle between experienced and fake emotions give a deception.
What about lies that do not excite the senses — lies about actions, plans, thoughts, intentions, facts, or fantasies? Can such a lie be detected through behavior?

Feelings and lies

It is not necessary to hide or falsify emotions for any deception. The cheater hides the theft of money. The plagiarist hides that he has appropriated someone else's work, and claims to be his own authorship. Some man hides his years, painting over gray hair and throwing off his conversations in his seven years. However, emotions are possible here. A man may be ashamed of his desire to appear younger, and to succeed in deception, he will also have to hide his embarrassment. A plagiarist may feel contempt for someone who is misleading, and will have to hide not only the source of his work and the lack of abilities for which he claims, but also his contempt. The robber may feel surprised when someone else is blamed for what he has done, and he will have to hide his surprise, or at least his reason.
Thus, deception rarely does not accompany any emotions, and liars do not always try to hide them. It is necessary to hide the emotions arising from deception, so that the lie was not detected. Companions of lies can be completely different emotions, but most often intertwined with deception, three of them - the fear of being exposed, the feeling of guilt about their own lies and the feeling of delight that a deceiver sometimes has in case of luck - they deserve the most attention.
created: 2014-09-28
updated: 2021-03-13
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Psychology of lies

Terms: Psychology of lies