Lying and Falsehood: A Persistent Problem in Modern Society

Lying and falsehoods pose significant problems in the criminal justice system, contributing to wrongful convictions. According to the National Registry of Exonerations, the 2025 Annual Report revealed a staggering number of wrongful convictions (1). Despite the severe consequences of perjury, the issue of dissimulation persists in many areas of life, including government communications and business advertising. A Pew Research Center poll found that a majority of people believe that government communications and business advertising are filled with deliberately misleading or false information (2).

Source: cdn2.psychologytoday.com

The Ubiquity of Falsehood in Nature

Falsehoods or the equivalent are ubiquitous in the natural world. In the animal kingdom, dissimulation is a common survival strategy. For example, some female fireflies give off mating signals to lure males, only to eat them afterwards. Cuttlefish change their color and configuration to mimic females, preventing the need to fight or compete with larger males. The fork-tailed drongo, a bird known for its predator warning calls, has been observed giving these calls when other creatures are eating, causing them to flee their meals and allowing the drongo to swoop in and scavenge (3).

Dissociation and Its Role in Human Lying

Dissociation, a psychological process that allows humans to separate their minds from physical reality, is essential for creating false mental impressions, which can then be expressed linguistically. While dissociation can contribute to dissociative identity disorder, it also enables humans to imagine possibilities that don’t yet exist, and then bring them into reality through creative and inventive powers. Unfortunately, this capacity for dissociation also makes humans capable of lying.

The positive side of dissociation is its role in human creativity and imagination. Humans can use language to express truth, but we can also dissociate our minds from physical reality to create false mental impressions. This capacity for dissociation is a double-edged sword, contributing to both the creation of new ideas and the perpetuation of lies.

The Justification of Lies

Humans often justify lies by creating false pictures of reality, which can be justified by appealing to natural laws or norms. However, nature doesn’t justify anything; it simply is. By paying attention to the natural world with minimal dissociation, humans can gain a deeper understanding of the consequences of lying and the importance of truthfulness. The unprecedented world crowding of over eight billion people highlights the need to reduce human dissimulation and find psychological and cultural methods to promote truthfulness.

Unlike the drongos and cuttlefish, humans can imagine possibilities that are not inherently immediate in our natures. This capacity for imagination and creativity can be used to create a more truthful and honest society. By understanding the psychological context of dissimulation, humans can work towards reducing lies and falsehoods, promoting a more just and equitable world.

References

• 1. National Registry of Exonerations. 2025 Annual Report. https://exonerationregistry.org/sites/exonerationregistry.org/files/doc…
• 2. Pew Research Center. 2025. Public Trust in Government Fact Sheet. Pew Research Center.
• 3. Trecek-King, M. 2026. From Savanna to Smartphones: Reflections on the Past Fifteen Seconds. Skeptical Inquirer, 50 (3), May/June, 21-23.