1. Politicians, celebrities, the girl next door... everybody’s at it — fibbing, that is. In fact, a recent global survey conducted by the Institute of Refractory Findings (IRF) reveals that most people lie to themselves seven times daily and lie to others once or twice a day.

2. The survey reveals that most people lie in 34 per cent of their total interaction with others and the regular liar deceives people around 30 times per week. While the most common lies include the usual — ‘I never said that’ or ‘I was not there’ or ‘I did not do it’ — the question to ask is: what exactly compels people to lie?

3. ‘‘There are probably as many reasons as there are people. But in simple terms, all these reasons fall into one or more of three groups — fear, greed and hate,’’ analyses psychiatrist Samir Parikh, MD. The reason for lying might or might not be where the secret lies, but IRF director Robert J Manson reasons that lying is often the inevitable.

4. ‘‘It is widely recognised that there are cases in which considerable harm can be done by telling the truth.” “This, in a way, justifies hiding such information and, thus, misleading the person,’’ he states. All said and done, we are so used to being lied to that, more often than not, it does not elicit great concern. ‘‘There are as many lies in business as there are people in business — why create a fuss?’’ asks HSBC marketing executive Anita Talwar.

5. While most lies are what psychologists call ‘false positives’ and are the kind of fibs which serve as harmless social lubricants (‘oh, you look nice in that dress’; ‘the meal was wonderful’ and so on), there is a growing number of people who lie excessively.
‘‘Anyone under pressure or with a big enough incentive is prepared to say something that isn’t true,’’ says Professor Leonard Saxe, an expert in lie detection at Brandeis University in the US.

6. Psychiatrist Sanjay Chugh, MD, has a take on compulsive liars: ‘‘People start by exaggerating their accomplishments to boost their self-esteem or for a specific gain such as trying to get a job. The trouble is when they can’t stop and they layer lie on top of lie.’’
Meanwhile, it’s time for the compulsive fibber to analyse this: sooner than later, truth shall prevail.