Pamela Meyer How To Spot A Liar Analysis

Today our world is up 24 hours a day. It is transparent with blogs and social networks broadcasting the buzz of a whole new generation of people who have made a choice to live their lives out in the public. It is astonishing that on any given day people lie to us about 10 to 200 times, and the clues to detect those lies are subtle and counterintuitive. In her speech, How to spot a liar, Pamela Meyer presents some insight into the science behind why we lie, whom we lie to, and most importantly, how to seek out the truth and develop trust. Furthermore, she adds that over-sharing is not honesty and that our manic tweeting and texting can blind us from the subtleties of human decency, character, and integrity. Appealing to the audience’s values

The Ways We Lie by Stephanie Ericsson explains how everyone lies in this world, one way or another. Ericsson expresses the many ways people lie and why they do so. She educates her audience by describing the different types of lies told daily by sharing personal stories, asking rhetorical questions and creates hypothetical situations to support her statements. She begins with the white lie, which is a harmless lie instead of the truth, if the truth was bad news. Then she continues to explain a façade, changing your personality making people believe something you are not. She proceeds with explaining how deflecting is also a type of lying. She continues to explain omission, which is when you’re telling the truth, but leaving out important details.

Quote 1: “The public defender, trying to get him off, called him a dumb animal,” I told her. “He said it would be like tying a hog down in that chair and executing him-an animal that didn’t know what any of it was all about. The jury, twelve white men good and true still sentenced him to death.” (26)

There are many times when lying is the best option, the act is reasonable as long as it’s justified.

Throughout life, we sometimes don't take the time to think about what comes out of our mouth. We feel the need to tell a falsehood to make ourselves look better or feel better. After all, we don't want to accept the harsh truth of reality that is lives are not perfect. Sometimes we even forget why we're even lying at all. However, we are not alone as human begins it's in our nature to lie.

One of the greatest commandments written in history is “Thou Shalt not lie.” From a young age we have been taught of the negative effects of lying. We are taught, as toddlers, not to cheat on tests and punished for our dishonesty when caught. But as we grow older we discover that lying is not as terrible as we were raised to believe. Sometimes lying is safer than the truth. Lying helps us to protect the well-being of family and friends. Deception and secrecy are two major themes of Lois Lowry’s The Giver. While being dishonest is against the rules in The Giver, the survival of the community is dependent on deception and secrecy. Lying is written into the daily lives of the people of the community, and used so commonly that people are not aware

that we should realize more but although at the same time lying is a natural thing that happens everyday. She also includes various uses of loaded language to emphasize the most important aspects of lying. Towards the end of the essay she states “ Our acceptance of lies becomes a cultural cancer that eventually shrouds and reorders reality until moral garbage become as invisible to us as water is to fish.”(501) arguing that lying is a major problem that need fixed before everyone life just become one huge lie. This technique persuades the readers into agreeing, because she’s seen as a normal everyday person like the reader.

Stephanie Ericsson begins her explorative essay, “The Ways We Lie,” with a personal anecdote of all the lies she fabricated in one day. She told her bank that a deposit was in the mail when it was not, told a client that the traffic had been bad when she was late for other reasons, told her partner that her day was fine when it was really exhausting, and told her friend she was too busy for lunch when she just was not hungry, all in the course of a day. She shifts from talking about herself to talking about everyone, claiming that all people lie, exaggerate, minimize, keep secrets, and tell other lies. But, like herself, most still consider themselves honest people. She describes a week in which she tried to never tell a lie; it was debilitating, she claims. Furthermore, telling the truth all the time has serious consequences. She postulates that lying, though a form of hedging, must have some merit. She cites a broad definition of a lie from Webster’s dictionary, and asserts that this definition includes many types of lying.

One reason, is lying can lead people in the wrong direction because it can make another person confused what to do. Someone is telling a friend directions to the park, but the person is just going back to your home to relax, while his friend is tries to figure where he is. He makes an excuse by telling him you are busy. Then, his friend gets betrayed so the friendship is ruined by him. In that example written, people can get trusted easily sometimes.

The three elements of rhetorical appeals were analyzed in Po Bronson’s article “Learning to Lie,” published February 10, 2008. In the article, Po Bronson uses rhetorical devices to persuade the reader that a reasonable one-third of teens lie to their parents. Bronson discusses about young kids learning to lie and what their causes may be. To better convey his points to the reader, Bronson uses the rhetorical appeals of ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos is trying to convincing the audience and a persuader by trying to achieve credibility. Logos is the appeal of logic and reasoning, and lastly, pathos is using emotion to persuade the reader. Through these appeals, Bronson tries to address parents about their children lying, their causes and effects, and showing them what their children is capable of.

In our society, many people assume that lying is something wrong to do; they use to say that you always have to tell the truth no matter the situation. I believe those people are certainly wrong because it is impossible for any human being to always tell the truth, Mark Twain said “Lying is universal—we all do it.” This world would be so bizarre if everyone would speak only the truth. It is just something that would never happen, but people are fooling themselves thinking that lying is wrong, that we must tell the truth always.

For example, in article, “It’s the truth: Americans Conflicted about lying”, by NBCnews.com, states that, “For, Harold Smith, it was worth a risk when he lied to his adult daughter about his health when undergoing treatment for a kidney tumor…”. I believe that he was right by lying to his adult daughter, he used lying to protect his daughter, he didn't want to hurt her. In this situation lying would be acceptable, he used it in the correct way, to protect himself and others. Additionally, in article, “It’s the truth: Americans conflicted about lying”, by NBCnews.com, states that, “why get her all traumatized? Says Smith, 64 of Pioneer, Calif. I tried to protect her. It slowed down the anxiety, later he told her what really

Meyer uses many comparison and contrast between cases to prove that all lies can be spotted. For example, she shows the reactions of two mothers after their children died. In these clips, she points out that even if the two mother’s words are equally devastating and sad, the unserious tone and calm demeanor of the mother who killed her kids gives away the fact that she was lying.

Within Stephanie Ericsson essay, “The Ways We Lie”, she did a profound job of explaining and deciphering the reasons as to why people lie. Ericsson explains how specific lies carry dire consequences and may be detrimental to the individual being lied to. Her target audience is everyone because, lying is an action that relates to us because it’s an internal instinct given certain situations. To add, she outlines her essay by including relatable situations that happen in real life as the foundation of her argument. By using both elements of ethos and pathos, Ericsson strategically uses rhetorical strategies in order to bring awareness to the effects of dishonesty.

The Ted Talk “How to Spot a Liar” by Pamela Meyer discusses and compares seeking the truth and seeking the lie. There is not only a strict scientific method to it but a more humanistic approach. Meyer tells us how lie spotters are armed with scientific knowledge on spotting deception (Meyer, 2011). The strongest points of Meyers’ argument are that lying is a cooperative act. If a lie is not believed or believable, it has lost its value. A lie has a perpetrator and a victim and without these characteristics, it’d fail. Lying is also an attempt to bridge a gap that connects our fantasies and reality (Meyer, 2011). When thinking about Schemas, lying has to be the most universally common model. The characteristics of a lie