Question

National Geographic did a short piece on lying where they reported on some recent research conducted by a Communication Studies professor on the reasons people lie. Below are six of those reasons. For each type of reason, assume that the person who has told the lies has told them all before.

For each kind of lie, identify if the telling of the lie (that's the operant) has been positively reinforced, negatively reinforced, positively punished or negatively punished. Explain why you chose the type of reinforcement or punishment that you did.

a. Lied to cover up a personal transgression, e.g. lied to keep an affair from becoming public

b. Lied to avoid someone, e.g., lied to get off the phone with someone you don’t want to talk to c. Lied for financial gain, e.g., lied on a tax return to get a bigger tax refund

d. Lied for non-monetary benefits, e.g., lied to get people to vote for you

e. Lied to make a good impression, e.g., lied on an online dating profile so more people will say yes when you ask to meet them

f. Lied to be polite, e.g., lied about liking someone’s shirt to avoid making the person feel bad

Answer 1

Following is a brief discussion of answering the following question.