Herschel Walker lied about things that were easily discovered. Why do people do that?

Heisman Trophy Winner and Senate Candidate GOP By Herschel Walker claiming to graduate in the top 1% of his class at the University of Georgia and being the valedictorian of his high school class are just recent examples of someone in the public eye who has been caught lying about his past. their.

The Constitution of Atlanta-Journal was the first to report on Walker’s academic addition in December when it indicated that his campaign website said he graduated from college – which he did not graduate from, an redundancy. which he had published in the newspaper at the time.

But this month, a CNN investigation found that as early as 2017, Walker repeatedly used false stories about college and high school achievement in speeches. After reviewing 15 years of local press coverage of Walker’s Johnson County High School and poring through his high school yearbooks, CNN discovered that the school did not have a valedictorian name until 1994 (The School of Public Health). Johnson County School of Education declined to comment to CNN on whether a valedictorian has been named the year Walker graduated).

With how easy it is to spot falsehoods these days, one has to wonder why some people are constantly turning out refutable stories about themselves. I asked this question from my colleague Daniel Shaw, author of the book “Trauma narcissism and recovery” Who said the answer is complicated. Of course, this is beyond Walker. I’m certainly not here to speculate on why he lied specifically, but because we’ve all lied or experienced being lied to at some point, this time is the opportunity to have a deeper insight.

To begin with, Shaw says, “sometimes people lie because they believe they’re telling the truth. The mind is complex, it is possible to know something and not know it at the same time. But there are other, less benign reasons for lying. Search have found that most people don’t lie, and when they do, they tell small, often innocuous untruths that we call “white little lies.” When someone intentionally lies, they often feel ashamed, guilty, and worried about what they are doing. During my psychotherapy practice, I have worked with people who compulsively lie to enhance their self-image or to protect themselves from shame and embarrassment, but because of their shame about behavior, these lies often have the opposite effect.

Psychologist Paul Ekman, expert in decoding facial expressions and inspiration for the series “Lie to me,“Writing on website that “avoidance of punishment is the primary motive” for lying, but “protecting ourselves or others from harm, maintaining privacy, and avoiding shame” are other common reasons why we lie .

However, most of us probably don’t lie because of the damage we know that repeated falsehoods can do. Darlene Lancer, a marriage and family therapist, writes about her Today’s Psychology Blog that lies can destroy personal relationships. She says they block intimacy, “based on trust and authenticity – the possibility of being vulnerable or ‘naked,’ not just physically, but emotionally.” And lies in business or professional interactions can destroy the mutual trust that can secure meaningful future negotiations.

Lying can also destroy self-esteem, when the act of telling them goes against our own moral and ethical values ​​or when we are caught, and our positive self-image plummets. in the eyes of those whose opinions we care about.

In his book, Shaw writes that “malignant narcissist“A term used for people who are extremely engaging in self, devoid of empathy, controlling and often abusive, free from such moral, ethical or personal conflicts. They lie to increase feelings of power and invulnerability. In our conversation, Shaw said that a combination of grandeur and manipulativeness causes this type of person to “lie with abandonment and hurt when they are perceived as untrue.”

Lies presented to the public are not a new phenomenon, although they seem more blatant now than ever. Walker has appeared in speeches, in interviews, on his campaign website, and in his 2008 autobiography.

If it’s true that most of us disapprove of lying, we might ask why we accept or ignore both public and private statements that we know to be untrue. Perhaps part of the answer lies in declare from Mallory Blount, the campaign’s communications director: “There is not a single voter in Georgia who believes that Herschel’s ‘top of his class’ graduation or valedictorian 40 years ago has anything to do with his ability to become a great United his great. United States Senator. ”

Shaw told me, “When you have a quasi-religious faith in your political leader, you believe that he or she represents good, and you will join him or her against what you consider evil.” In other words, he says, you believe “your team is telling a higher truth. The end justifies the means.”

However, there is a problem with this location. Michael Slepian, a professor of leadership and ethics at Columbia Business School, studied secrecy, which is closely related to ignoring the truth behind a lie. In one Scientific American magazine article, Confidentiality is associated with less happiness, poorer health, and less satisfying relationships, he writes. Research has linked secrecy with increased anxiety, depression, symptoms of poor health and even faster disease progression.” From a neurological perspective, ignoring some secrets and lies can lead to a decreased ability to separate truth from falsehood, says Tara Swart, a neuroscientist and lecturer at MIT Sloan, who studies studies the effects of secrets and lies, in the book “The Source: Secrets of the Universe, The Science of the Brain.”. ”

So why does someone like Walker continue to repeat stories that could be exposed as false? Like every other question about human psychology, the answer to why people lie when they know they might get caught is complex. And perhaps it’s time we ask another question: Given that lies can damage relationships, businesses, lives, and even countries, it wouldn’t be better for all of us. What if we impose greater consequences on people who lie to gain power and prestige, even if we disagree with their goals?

at Blogtuan.info – Source: nbcnews.com – Read the original article here