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  • BBC Science Focus Magazine

    PATHOLOGICAL LIARS: WHAT DRIVES THEM TO LIE AND WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT IT?

    Jul 06, 2022 3 minutes
    by DR CHRISTIAN JARRETT

    SCIENCE BEHIND THE HEADLINES

    “While psychopaths and people with an antisocial personality are typically manipulative and self-serving, pathological liars often lie for no apparent purpose”

    The label ‘pathological liar’ gets thrown around a lot, especially in the direction of politicians or celebrities. Although it isn’t a formal psychiatric diagnosis, it is a recognised concept that psychologists and psychiatrists have been interested in for a long time, at least since 1891 when to describe several of his patients who told an astonishing amount of fantastical lies (other similar psychological terms include ‘deception syndrome’ and ‘mythomania’). So why do people do it?

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