Ambika Agnihotri
Lying refers to
the act of purposefully conveying a piece of information that is believed to be
false by the speaker. It may be argued that most of the times, the intention is
to deceive the listener(s). It is extremely important to differentiate between
such an act of lying and the condition of pathological lying. The latter is a
phenomenon wherein the lies are compulsive, pervasive and logically
disproportionate. They are claimed to not be motivated by external factors or
rewards. Through this blog post, I wish to throw some light upon this
condition and illustrate its basic features and characteristics.
A German
physician, Dr. Delbruck was the first to voice his urge of giving this
condition, that seemed to be ‘abnormal’ and ‘out of proportion’, a different
category than normal lies. (Dike, Baranoski, & Griffith,
2005). According to Healy and Healy (2010), pathological lying may be defined
as an entirely disproportionate falsification that manifests over a long period
of time, and may be extremely complicated and pervasive. With
numerous definitions of this phenomenon, it is possible to point out
characteristics that have been observed over and over again; (1) Repetition or
persistence, (2) Impulsive and unplanned, (3) Compulsive character, (4)
External rewards not being the primary motivator.
Pathological lying
has been seen as stemming from ‘pseudolying’. It can be described as fantasy
lying, prevalent in childhood (Dike, Baranoski, & Griffith, 2005). It is
used as an escape from reality and is important for self-
development and self-protection in children. However, if it persists
into adulthood, it turns pathological. Thus, one of the main reasons for the
development of pathological lying is ego fixation in childhood.
Looking at the
development of the condition from a neurological and biological point of view,
research opens more doors to understanding it. Pathological liars have been
observed to have a history of malfunction or abnormality associated with the
Central Nervous System (Dike, Baranoski, & Griffith, 2005). In addition,
the research undertaken by Yang et al. (2005) points out the increased
bilateral activation in the prefrontal cortex during the activity of lying. In
congruence to this finding, they also found out that liars have an increased
volume of prefrontal white matter and reduced grey and/or white matter ratios
compared to control groups. This increased amount of white matter pre-disposes
the individual with the cognitive capacity to lie. Paus et al.
(2001) found out that such individual’s brain weight touches adult brain weight
measures between the age of ten to twelve years.
Don Grubin (2005)
points out the aims a pathological liar may lie for- (1) to avoid being
punished for wrong deeds, (2) to impress, (3) to deceive, (4) internal pleasure
gratification. According to him, the aspect that classifies the condition as
abnormal is the extent of power or control the individual has over it.
Pathological liars lack control; they cannot help but lie. The lie seems to
have more power, thus, the lair seems to have lost control over
them. Infact, they might even be unaware of the fact that they are lying!
This results in an impairment in reality as consciousness of real
events is fogged (Dike, Baranoski, & Griffith, 2005). However, the lie
becomes the reality for him/her. This paradox has been referred to as ‘double
consciousness’ by Grubin, wherein two versions of reality run parallelly in
their mind. Here, the problem occurs when the desired reality takes
over actual reality.
The debate about
whether pathological lying is a symptom or a disorder in itself is ongoing.
However, it is certain that pathological lying is associated to numerous
psychological conditions or disorders, like Gasner’s Syndrome, Delusions,
Antisocial Personality Disorder, Confabulation, Borderline Personality
Disorder, etc (Dike, Baranoski, & Griffith, 2005). Thus, it is an aspect of
psychology that needs more in-depth study and research. It will help understand
the phenomenon and its far-reaching effects better.
References
Dike,
C. C., Baranoski, M., & Griffith, E. E. (2005). Pathological lying
revisited. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law
Online, 33(3), 342-349. https://www.researchgate.net
Grubin,
D. (2005). Commentary: Getting at the truth about pathological lying. Journal
of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online. Retrieved
from https://scholar.google.co.in
Healy,
W., & Healy, M. T. (2010). Pathological lying, accusation, and
swindling. Retrieved from https://scholar.google.co.in
Paus,
T., Collins, D. L., Evans, A. C., Leonard, G., Pike, B., & Zijdenbos, A.
(2001). Maturation of white matter in the human brain: a review of magnetic
resonance studies. Brain research bulletin, 54(3), 255-266. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0361-9230(00)00434-2
Yang,
Y., Raine, A., Lencz, T., Bihrle, S., Lacasse, L., & Colletti, P. (2005).
Prefrontal white matter in pathological liars. The British Journal of
Psychiatry, 187(4), 320-325. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.187.4.320
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