Chronic liars, also known as pathological, psychological, or compulsive liars, are people who repeatedly and habitually tell a variety of lies for no reason. They can be hard to treat, hard to manage, and even harder to get to know. A survey by the Michigan State University Department of Communication found that around 40% of all people would lie within 24 hours. But nearly 50% of all lies told are told by just 5% of all people. These five percent are probably chronic liars.
5 CHRONIC PHRASES TO MAKE YOU BELIEVE THAT THEY ARE TELLING THE TRUTH
1. “WE…” “THEY…” “YOU…” “HE…” “SHE…”
Be wary of someone who always seems to talk about others instead of themselves. You might think that a chronic liar would show some narcissistic traits and talk about themselves, but in this situation, there really isn’t much he can keep lying about himself on a regular basis.
Furthermore, most chronic liars actively lie to avoid accountability. This means that anything you can do to direct your focus and attention to someone else is fine. Instead of becoming the subject of a situation, they will deflect blame and refuse to take responsibility for any problem.
2. “TO BE HONEST…” OR “REALLY…”
Someone who needs to convince you of something will insist on it repeatedly, as if they are putting a lie into your head. Maybe that’s why chronic liars use phrases like “Honestly…” and “To tell you the truth…” A chronic liar uses phrases like this when they are aware that their credibility is on the floor. They hope that emphasizing the supposed veracity of their statement will convince them of their honesty.
Sometimes it works, especially if you’re not paying attention to the signs of lies, and that’s how you can fall into a trap.
3. “ALWAYS…” OR “NEVER…”
There is no such thing as a perfect person. As such, it is ridiculous to expect someone to “always” or “never” do anything. Sure, someone can be extremely trustworthy, but accidents, mishaps, and mistakes do happen that can derail even the most perfect record.
But a chronic liar doesn’t want you to know about his mistakes. They want to do everything they can to cover up those mistakes. To prevent you from suspecting that there has been a mistake, they will assure you through sweeping statements that they would never do it, that they never make such mistakes, or that they always do it right.
4. “IT WAS NOT MY FAULT!” OR “IT IS BECAUSE OF…”
As we mentioned, chronic liars want to deflect blame. When they are caught making any kind of mistake, they feel the need to say how they should not be held accountable. They have trouble coming to terms with their misdeeds, coming up with excuses, justifications, and all sorts of reasons why it’s not really their fault. Sometimes, a chronic liar will already start making excuses before you’ve even asked or accused them of a mistake. If they think you might find them guilty, they’ll launch into justifications already, which often only makes them look more guilty.
It doesn’t matter that, from the start, your goal is to make them look above reproach.
5. TOO MANY DETAILS
When you tell a story, you do it according to your memory. Memories change, fade, and even shift over time, so you can get a few things wrong when trying to sort through what you remember and put it into words. This is why stories tend to inflate or deflate in intensity depending on who is telling them or how often they have been broadcast.
But liars don’t make these kinds of mistakes, mainly because they know they have to be convincing. They work hard to memorize oddly specific details of their stories so they can tell them over and over again.
