STUDY: LYING AND THE LIARS WHO LIE

A new study out of the University of Florida at Tampa says most people tell about two lies per day. Okay, that’s not true. It’s actually from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Anyhow, Timothy Levine, who studies deception and heads communication studies at the university, says very few people are chronic liars. He says, “There is that kind of top 1% who are telling more than 15 lies per day, day in, day out.” The study tracked people’s lies every day over three months. The 630 participants kept “daily deception journals.” There was a total of 116,336 lies. Three-quarters of participants were consistently honest, telling between zero and two lies per day, the findings showed. But about 6% of them averaged more than six lies a day and accounted for a large share of all the lies in the study, which was published online in the journal Communication Monographs.
* Which I read all the time. While sitting next to my wife, Morgan Fairchild.
* Now what ever could have prompted a university to take on a study of lying in this day and age?
* 6% were serious liars. How did all those politicians have time to be in a study?
* I keep a daily deception journal. I call it Twitter. (or Facebook or Instagram)
* Speaking of lying, that reminds me: It’s time to start composing those family Christmas letters.