For most people, lying is understood as an absolute moral wrong. We don’t like to lie, but we also hate to think that we’ve been fooled by a liar. If we have an unconscious belief that nobody would really lie to us, or that we could detect it if they did, we are preserving our ego somewhat, and assuring ourselves that the world is largely a just place. Most people are good and honest, and they simply don’t like sitting in judgment of another, preferring the comfort of extending trust—how many of us falsely believe that others will behave with all the same moral scruples as we would?
