2024-01-16 19:19:38
Published16. January 2024, 8:19 p.m
Mental health: This is what we lie about most often – and that’s what it does to us
Do you ever tell a little white lie every now and then? For the sake of your mental health, you should reconsider this in the future – a new study shows why.
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Almost everyone lies regularly – and the behavior causes lower self-esteem.
Getty Images/Westend61
Sometimes it’s hard to avoid it, sometimes they’re just more comfortable, more exciting or give you an advantage: the lies of everyday life. Researchers from the Netherlands have now examined this fact more closely in a study and found that your mental health and self-esteem can suffer if lying becomes a habit.
Four experiments about self-esteem
In four experiments, they examined the effects on the emotional state of the test subjects. The participants were first asked to document for a day whether and why they lie. These results speak for themselves: a whopping 22 percent told a lie that was about themselves, eight percent wanted to protect someone else with their lie.
The dilemma makes you weak
In the second experiment, a dilemma was invented that the test subjects were confronted with – either one that revolved around themselves or one in which the focus was on an outside person. Would you like some examples?
Your friend is happy about her new dress, you don’t like it at all. How do you act?
A self-centered situation went something like: “You are at a job interview. You’ll be asked if you meet the one requirement asked for in the job description, which you don’t. What are you doing?” A dilemma that involves someone else is: “Your friend is happy about her new dress, but you don’t like it at all. How do you act?” 42 percent of participants lied when a situation affected them, and even 46 percent lied when the focus was on others. Compared to the subjects who told the truth, both groups of liars rated their self-esteem as worse and reported more negative feelings.
Whether during a job interview or to avoid hurting someone, if you tell a lie, your mental health will suffer.
Pexels/Mikhail Nilov
Another test also asked about actual dilemmas they had experienced – the study reads: “Some of the participants were asked to remember a situation in which they had lied. They then reported lower self-esteem than the participants who had not lied in such a situation.
In five days almost everyone will lie – at what cost?
Similar results emerged after a test over five days in which the test subjects were again asked to document any lies. Only 19 percent got through the test period without lying, but 22 percent fibbed every day. This group and all others who lied rated their self-esteem lower than the group who didn’t lie. In other words, especially when you lie to make yourself look better, you actually end up feeling worse afterwards. Maybe an incentive to stick to the facts more often.
What have you already lied about and how did you feel about it?
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