Argumentative Paper

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Why Children Lie?

A friend of mine stole a box of crayons in the third grade and lied to her teacher and said they were hers. Why? Because she feared the consequences, she would face from her parents. If a child is raised in an individualistic culture fearing the consequences of their actions and observe their surrounding when lying. Then lying becomes more natural to them. This paper will cover the trend of lying among children. It will specifically touch on the reasons why children lie, the scientific connection between lying and the memory of children and the various ways of identifying a lying kid.

Lying is one of the most undesirable behaviors that one can possess whether as a child or as an adult. It does not only stress social relationships but also makes a person untrustworthy and unreliable. The following are some reasons as to why children lie as they grow up, according to various studies.

It is a way of experimenting and using imaginative abilities. Children tend to try out many things as they grow up. This is because they are naturally curious and they mostly learn by trying out everything. This is the adventurous side of them. However, once they try something out, it may become a habit if it is not classified as good or bad by the people around them. If a kid lies to an adult the first time and they are not criticized or warned about it, they will grow to imagine that it is right to lie. With time, their ethics dies to lie and they become continually liars. This is because according to science, repeated lying causes less activity in a part of the brain that is known as the amygdala. The activity of this part which links the human brain to emotions lessens over time, therefore the kid will have no emotions of guilt when telling a lie. With such behavior, it even becomes very hard for anyone to prove whether a kid is lying or telling the truth.

The relationship with the people in their environment. Children, just like adults, have a way of responding to their environment. The environment contains of majorly the people they spend much of their time with. Children that grow up in environments that have a lot of pressure tend to lie more than those that grow in friendly environments. Tough environments are characterized by frequent beating and punishments from their seniors or harsh talk. They may resort to lying as a way of evading punishment. If a child is being punished for almost everything they do, the chances are that they will lie about almost everything they say. Children in friendly environments are likely, to tell the truth because they have no fear of harsh treatment even when they are in the wrong. This experience is called emotional adaptation. In real life, it can be explained by how people tend to be less sensitive to situations or things that they do over time. For instance, a new set of couches will appear more appealing to the owner during the first days after installation. This feeling goes away with time as they get used to seeing the couch every day.

In the development journey of any typical child, lying will often be spotted. Many studies have been carried out to link between how well a kid can lie with their memory. One thing that has remained constant in all the research findings is that children who can lie consistently have a good memory. The good memory is a reflection of how smart a kid can be. A study that was documented by Forbes magazine in its article titled "Forbes Welcome" showing a performance comparing good liars and bad liars among children. This performance was also used to show how good the memory of the kids was for the two groups. The study found out that the children who could lie consistently, good liars, had good memories as opposed to those who got worked up while lying, bad liars. Lying requires one to keep track of words and details I the mind and reproduce them right when need be. This proves that a smart kid will be good at lying, even though lying is not a socially acceptable standard.

Spotting a liar is not easy, with or without training. According to Hancock, people have only established a 54% accuracy of spotting liars. This means that even with all the signals that one can use to tell that someone is lying, it is still not an easy task. This applies to both kids and adults. One can spot a liar through the following ways.

Lying successfully depends heavily on a kid’s ability to keep words in their memory and telling the same thing whenever it is required of them. When a kid is lying to you, they will have problems explaining something repeatedly. The details may not match when they are narrating, or they may lack explanation to certain statements. Alternatively, the reasons they give for doing or saying something will be vague.

A person’s body language communicates more than their words can say. Observing body language is one thing that has been used in the past to training law enforcement and security officers on how to get hold of potentially harmful persons. There is some proof that liars can betray themselves through their body language. This could be through the movement of their eyes, faster blinking.

Whenever someone is lying for whatever reason, they tend not to be at comfort. When a kid is lying, they will be stressed because most of the details of the things they lie about have to be believed. Trying too much to make someone to make someone believe something is one way to spot that you are being lied to. This could be established through being too detailed or being too kept at giving the details of a situation of story.

When a kid is lying, they will either be too emotional or not emotional at all. The movement to raise a voice or be understated when someone tries to give a denying idea about what the liar is saying often betrays many people. Some kids will cry as a way of manipulating the listener so that they are not caught lying. Other emotions may be displayed by an acceleration of their breathing and the speed of speech. According to a study that was carried out in Chicago university published by Nytimes.Com bearing the title "John Tierney," a child will tend to speak faster and due to the guilt, that comes with cheating, they will have a faster heartbeat. If the lying is not usual, the child will even break into tears as a cover-up.

Works Cited

Forbes.Com, "Forbes Welcome." https://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2015/06/22/clever-little-liars-kids-with-good-memory-are-better-at-telling-tall-tales/#41e675a65c8d. Accessed 26 Mar 2018.

Hancock, Jeff. "The Future of Lying." Ted.Com, https://www.ted.com/talks/jeff_hancock_3_types_of_digital_lies#t-727991. Accessed 26 Mar 2018.

Nytimes.Com"John Tierney.", 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/by/john-tierney. Accessed 26 Mar 2018.