Do Men Really Lie More Than Women?

In summary, the average British male tells 3 lies a day, women tell twice that amount. However, because married people tell more lies than single people, the study's conclusions are questionable. Additionally, the study's methodology is faulty because it relies on surveys taken by women.
  • #1
russ_watters
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A new poll released in the U.K. by the Science Museum reveals that the average British male tells three lies a day (your British correspondant’s non-fibbing math works out that’s the equivalent of 1,092 a year) whereas the fairer sex only lies twice a day (728 a year).

Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/05/18/poll-men-lie-more-than-women-no-really/?hpt=Sbin#ixzz0oLMfva2A
http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/05/18/poll-men-lie-more-than-women-no-really/?hpt=Sbin

Who wants first shot at the punch-line?
 
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  • #2
Seriously, two or three times a day? Who lies that much?
 
  • #3
russ_watters said:
Who wants first shot at the punch-line?

Wow, twice a day?! I didn't know the Brits had sex so often. :wink:
 
  • #4
Moonbear said:
Wow, twice a day?! I didn't know the Brits had sex so often. :wink:

:smile:
 
  • #5
lisab said:
Seriously, two or three times a day? Who lies that much?
I certainly don't! Or do I? How would you know if I'm telling the truth about that?
 
  • #6
Wait? When did women find out the truth? Who told!
 
  • #7
russ_watters said:
I certainly don't! Or do I? How would you know if I'm telling the truth about that?

Yeah. Seems kind of silly. We'll run a poll and ask people how often they lie.
 
  • #9
TheStatutoryApe said:
Yeah. Seems kind of silly. We'll run a poll and ask people how often they lie.

:smile: Reminds me of a poll started here a long time ago where one of the options was "I don't vote in polls," or something like that. About 30% of the responses were for that option. :biggrin: It was, however, a wonderful example of the validity of polls that don't have enough questions that phrase the same thing different ways to test internal consistency of responses.
 
  • #10
What a stupid poll, women lie about 20 times a day, but of course will only say 2, men being more honest say 3.:smile:
 
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  • #11
Ivan Seeking said:
Obviously the study was done by a woman. Can't never trust 'em.

Bah, beat me to it.

And really, who the hell can lie that often anyhow?!? I don't even get the option of lying that often in day. Do people go live their lives in such a way that when they're asked if they want fries with their burger, they say no instead of yes just because they feel they must lie?

And why are these weird "humans are awful" studies always coming out of the UK? If you want awful people, just go to California and start asking things.
 
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  • #12
No, your bum doesn't look big in that! :smile:
 
  • #13
phizo said:
No, your bum doesn't look big in that! :smile:

Ohhhh now it makes sense, married people are making up for people like me.
 
  • #14
Also, does it count "lies" such as, "I'm feeling fine" when you actually feel like crap?

But yeah, I can't believe this. I can't believe that men tell 1.5 lies for every lie women tell, unless all of the men polled were married, and in that case lying is the perfect defense mechanism.

I'd definitely believe that humans lie more than once a day though. Humans. Can't trust 'em.
 
  • #15
I've noticed that people do seem to lie a lot. Most lies people don't even think about.

"Why were you late to work?" , "Got stuck in traffic."

"Is that report done yet?" , "Yup, I was just about to send it to you."

"I had a soda in the fridge, do you know what happened to it?" , "No idea." *burp*
 
  • #16
C'mon-you're going to trust this news report? It was written by a MAN after all.. or was it?

Maybe there was never any study after all? Or was there?

80% of of facts are lies told by women.. the other 75% are truthful facts from men...

Seriously...I see some serious challenges to proving or disproving this hypothesis..:smile:
 
  • #17
Was there anyone who doubted that?:rolleyes:
 
  • #18
A new poll released in the U.K. by the Science Museum reveals that the average British male tells three lies a day (your British correspondant’s non-fibbing math works out that’s the equivalent of 1,092 a year) whereas the fairer sex only lies twice a day (728 a year).

Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/05/18/...#ixzz0oLMfva2A

But don't women usually divide the number of lies they tell by 3, while men multiply the number of lies they tell by 2?

That would mean women really tell 4 times as many lies as men.
 
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  • #19
Does anyone seriously think that a poll like this will have accurate results?
 
  • #20
CRGreathouse said:
Does anyone seriously think that a poll like this will have accurate results?

Yes.

Oops, that's one.
 
  • #21
It's so easy to lie.

Lie 1) do you like my new hair cut? "very nice"

Lie 2) isn't my baby the cutest? "she really is"

Lie 3) would you like to buy this set of plaster kumquats my daughter's class is selling so that they can buy new pom poms?" "of course"
 
  • #22
No, women lie a lot more than men do!... White lies I mean... :biggrin:
 
  • #23
There's a Chris Rock bit where he says something like:

Men tell the most lies, women tell the biggest lies. A man's lie is like "I was at Kevin's house!" A woman's lie is like, "It's your baby!"
 
  • #24
Apparently women don't need to lie - because men never listen.

(according to this house's minister for women's opinions)
 
  • #25
mgb_phys said:
Apparently women don't need to lie - because men never listen.

:smile:
 
  • #26
I find this report very dubious. My wife lies all the time. Her day consists of telling one lie after another. Since we married, I have never asked her a question but that her answer was a lie. Honest.
 
  • #27
Lying is good for you.

Honesty breeds depression. And lying helps a person recover from depression.

... lying has proven psychological benefits. For instance, there’s scientific evidence showing that depressive people are more honest with themselves than nondepressive, or mentally healthy, people. When people recover from their depressions, they become less honest.

And I think there was quite a bit of lying going on in that poll if men only admitted three lies a day and women only two. I guess it indicates that men are more honest than women, even when they're lying.
 
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  • #28
Evo said:
It's so easy to lie.

Lie 1) do you like my new hair cut? "very nice"

Lie 2) isn't my baby the cutest? "she really is"

Lie 3) would you like to buy this set of plaster kumquats my daughter's class is selling so that they can buy new pom poms?" "of course"

:smile: Though, here's another problem with such a survey...who counts how many times in a day they say something like that? The biggest lies being told in the study were likely the number of lies told in a day. And we all know that men are always trying to one-up each other:
Man 1: "I told one lie."
Man 2: "I told two lies, and they were THIS big."
Man 3: "I told ten lies, and they were WHOPPERS!"
 
  • #29
newsfeed.time.com said:
For the men, “I didn’t have that much to drink” comes out on top (bear in mind this is the U.K.), followed by “Nothing’s wrong, I’m fine” and “I had no signal.” But the likes of “I’m on my way” and “you’ve lost weight” also make the top 10. For women, they go with “Nothing’s wrong, I’m fine,” “I don’t know where it is, I haven’t touched it” and “It wasn’t that expensive.”
http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/05/18/poll-men-lie-more-than-women-no-really/

Typical conversation?
Man: “Nothing’s wrong, I’m fine -- I didn’t have that much to drink”
Woman: “It wasn’t that expensive.”
Man: “you’ve lost weight -- I didn’t have that much to drink”
Woman: “I don’t know where it is, I haven’t touched it”
Man: “I had no signal -- I didn’t have that much to drink”
Woman: “Nothing’s wrong, I’m fine”
Man: “I’m on my way -- I didn’t have that much to drink”
 
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  • #30
Evo said:
It's so easy to lie.

Lie 1) do you like my new hair cut? "very nice"

Lie 2) isn't my baby the cutest? "she really is"

Lie 3) would you like to buy this set of plaster kumquats my daughter's class is selling so that they can buy new pom poms?" "of course"

Nonsense.

1) "It's fine"

2) "No"

3) "No"

Done.
 
  • #31
mgb_phys said:
Apparently women don't need to lie - because men never listen.

(according to this house's minister for women's opinions)

Now that was a real lie since men listen but they act like they way didn't listen!

OK wait...you don't listen to what I just said...:devil:
 
  • #32
That thread being posted by what appears to be a male creates a logical paradox ;)
 
  • #33
So, in average, men have bigger noses? Another interesting thing to investigate.
 
  • #35
They say that women speak about 2 or 3 times more words per day than men. I find it hard to believe that they lie 2/3 as often.

At the same time, most of my words are spoken in answer to my wife, and her typical questions are:

1. Am I starting to get wrinkles?
(No, those are just smile-lines from being so cheerful.)

2. Does my butt look fat in these pants?
(Looks the the same as the day I met you.)

3. Do you like my new hair-do?
(Oh, it brings out your cheekbones nicely.)

4. How does my makeup look?
(Looks perfect, but you don't need any makeup.)

5. Aren't you glad that I bought these on sale?
(Yes, we really needed those additional 47 dishes: now we have a nice round 100.)
 
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