Rytis Leonavičius

Abstract

Lying plays a much more important role in our lives than it is generally thought. People learn to lie at an early age and later on “refine” this psychosocial phenomenon. Lying can only be defined as a positive or negative characteristic when facing legal codes.41However, in the opinion of psychologists, the unconditional telling of the truth can be considered as a certain pathology.Hypothesis of the research – students often lie and consider Lithuanians as prone to lie.Objective of the research – to determine patterns of lie prevalence amongst students and student approaches towards lying.Set goals of the research:1. To determine sociodemographic characteristics of the prevalence of lying among students;2. To identify correlations between lie occurrence and quality of life;3. To determine students’ attitude towards national characteristics of lying;To carry out the research an anonymous survey methodology was applied, including a standard sociodemographic questionnaire (sex, age, place of residence, higher education institution, marital and employment status) and questions concerning lying when lying is intended to improve quality of life, and a nation’s tendency to lie. The research comprised of 836 students (aged 18-35), of which the mean age was 25.4 years, (SD – 5.76), 95 percent CI=19.27 – 28.37 years; male and female groups by age were homogenous.The research has revealed that sex, place of residence, education, and higher education institution were not significantly related with student opinion that Lithuanians are prone to lie.Findings of the research:1. The research determined that male respondents from universities admit that they are prone to lying;2. Undergraduate female respondents studying at university significantly more often agree that lying helps to improve quality of life;3. Older, married and employed respondents more often stated that Lithuanians are prone to lie.The research justified the hypothesis that students admit that they are prone to lie, as is the whole nation.

Keyword(s): lying, lie, truth, quality of life.
DOI: 10.5200/sm-hs.2014.006
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