Why do some people seem to lie—a lot—and why are they okay with it? How can we tell when people are lying to us? Those are two of the questions I hoped would be answered by reading Big Liars: What Psychological Science Tells Us About Lying and How You Can Avoid Being Duped.

As might be inferred from the sub-title, the authors, Christian L. Hart and Drew A. Curtis, delve into research related to lying. They do a smooth job of navigating sometimes-contradictory data to provide the reader with a fact-based understanding of the art and science of lying.

They also explore frequency of lying within the population, affirming that almost everyone lies from time to time. However, not all lies are created equal. People lie for different reasons: sometimes to spare others’ feelings, and sometimes for their own gain. Intent matters.

Big Liars is a book I wish I’d had at my disposal during my working days in Human Resources. It would be handy to have some indicators that might suggest whether job applicants, for example, were being forthright about their skills and experiences. However, even in my retired life, I see an application for the book’s findings. For one thing, as an author who sometimes writes mystery short stories, it’s helpful to know a bit more about how and why characters might lie, and how detectives might catch them in the act. On a personal level, it’s also somewhat satisfying to get a better understanding of how public figures and others can lie with a seeming lack of conscience.

The book delves into the strategies employed by liars, for example, repetition of a lie until people start to subconsciously accept it as fact, or bombarding people with so much information—sometimes a blend of lies and facts—that it’s difficult to sort out the wheat from the chaff. The authors also poke holes in some of the conventional wisdom about how to detect lying through body language and speech patterns. For example, a person who hesitates over a response might be assumed to be cooking up a lie, but that might not always be the case. Conversely, a liar might deliver their patter smooth as silk, and be able to control physical indicators of nervousness, thus concealing their mistruths.

That doesn’t mean we should throw up our hands and surrender the world to liars. There are ways we can catch liars at work, and some of them are pretty common-sense. Does logic suggest that a person’s statements are unlikely or even unbelievable? Then you might want to collect more evidence. Do inconsistencies in someone’s story start to show when more information comes to light? Again, you might be dealing with someone dealing in mistruths. Big Liars also notes that some people—a small proportion of the population, thankfully—lie a lot, way more than the majority of the population. If we’re dealing with someone who has lied time and time again, we might be well advised to take much of what they say with a grain of salt.

Big Liars is organized logically, and while individual chapters deal with specific aspects of lying and lie detection, a thread of continuity runs through the book, including the occasional look ahead to future chapters. Being based on science and research, it’s a bit heavier read than an escapist novel, for example, but the authors present information in an entertaining and interesting manner. There are a number of humorous examples of lies that have been told. There are also chilling examples of the damage done by liars in positions of influence—for instance, a spy turned traitor. The book contained some facts that surprised me, too. For example, people sometimes lie to those who they respect, because they don’t want to disappoint them. And lying can hurt the liar, too, in subtle and not-so-subtle ways.

So, back to my questions at the outset: Why do some people seem to lie—a lot—and why are they okay with doing that? How can we tell when people are lying to us? Did Big Liars deliver an answer? I can honestly answer in the affirmative. Big Liars proved to be an interesting read that shed light on one of humanity’s less delightful tendencies.

After seeing an advance copy of this book provided by the publisher, American Psychological Association, via NetGalley, I purchased a copy of Big Liars. All opinions in this review are my own.

3.5 stars until I read the full book
In this short (17 pg) excerpt from #NetGalley, a reader can identify big liars in their life. It could be someone who raised you, a partner or someone who supposedly leads you at work. It seems according to the data shared that most people lie daily.
This chapter (I was expecting a 300 pg book) offered many examples of how and why people lie. I would appreciate the chance to read the entire book, especially if given in paper copy, because I feel I would be covering it in stickie notes!
For anyone who takes to lying easily, or especially those of us who have been the recipient of the behaviour of big liars, a deeper look at the psychology of this personality is worth more study.
I am interested to know if lying started early in these people’s childhood, if they bore any consequence for their ‘stories’ and if they at some point can reconcile and stop this type of choice in their interactions.
For more thoughts on Big Liars, thank you for reading my blog https://morethanlettersonalinetoday.blogspot.com/2023/09/big-liars-book-review.html

The book I received from NetGalley was the first chapter. Therefore, I will be reviewing only the first chapter of this book.

The concept is interesting, and I think this book has potential, but the first chapter had a lot of numbers, a lot of statistics, and was a little bit repetitive.

Due to this "book" just being the really books abstract, I was a tad disappointed. However, I did receive a physical copy of this book and it had some really interesting topics around the ideas of lies. If this is a topic that interests you and you enjoy education books written kind of like papers, this could be for you!

Thank you to the authors, publishers, and as always NetGalley, for an advance digital copy of Big Liars.

Unfortunately, the book I received from NetGalley was only a 17-page synopsis for this book. For me, this provides me insufficient material to comment on a 330 page book on the same topic. What I read left me with very little except more questions, the first of which is, who is this book's audience?

Thank you American Psychological Association, APA LifeTools and NetGalley for the ARC!

This was my first foray into non-fiction ARC's and the topic delivered.

Overall, I was surprised that it was mostly an abstract and wouldn't get into all the nitty gritty. The abstract walks the reader through the variations that constitute as a "lie". This was by far the best part. It was a great rendering of how easy it is to lie. There are some definitions people wouldn't even categorize as a lie and I think it helps to set the stage for the reality of the research.

It also walks through how to measure the weigh of a lie's quality and impact. The abstract spent a decent amount of time discussing the severity a "Big Lie" can have, but then the remainder of the writing was a sample survey into the quantity of lies individuals make on a daily basis. It felt a little like there was no proof of concept for the impact of a "Big Lie" despite the narration of the abstract.

Hopefully the full paper will share evidence (survey samples, anthropological studies, etc) on the heavier impact lies and not only on quantity. Similarly, there was a lot of references to the "diary studies". While the topic is fascinating, I spent 20 minutes reading a bunch of numbers. Unless I'm trying to cite this as a resource for my own study, it's disheartening to read, especially when the topic is so intriguing. My recommendation is to contextualize this data. Give examples of what a diary study looks like. Detail the 5 weekly lies. Are there statistics on the severity of the lies throughout the week? If you're lying once a day, after a month is there a transgression of heftier lies overtime? These types of answers are more provocative than a series of numbers of lies across surveys.

Sometimes it just takes the title to hook me.

A fascinating subject. We all lie, it's just that some people's lies can be more damaging and hurtful than others.





#BigLiars #NetGalley.
Expected Publication Date 22/08/23
Goodreads Review 06/07/23

"I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book provided by the publisher, American Psychological Association, via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The book has an interesting topic to discuss to start with; Lying. It describes how the definition of a lie is relevant to a situation and how much effect it has in that particular situation. Also, the manner in which the book points out the psychology behind liars and big liars is very interesting to read. It is a good read if you are someone like me whose loves books on psychology. Give it a read, it's worth it.

Although I really appreciate having been given the chance to read this copy in advance, it is just the premise, nothing else (I downloaded the file to my Kindle and to my phone). The topic really interests me and was looking forward to reading it in full and provide my review.

What makes big liars be called that way? Well, the study mentions not only the types of lies, but also the amount of lies they tell per day. Anyway, it had a great start, I hope the full book is just as interesting.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of an extract of this book provided by the publisher, American Psychological Association, via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I’ve tried downloading this on both my phone and kindle and it only includes the beginning. The premise sounds interesting and it reads like a freakonomics books but it’s hard to say with so little of the book being accessible.

Goodreads indicated it’s a 330 page book and it shows as 37 pages on my kindle.

It’s hard to rate with so little info but I hope the full book does well for you.