In the article, “People Lie for a Reason: Three Experiments Documenting the Principles of Veracity,” it states that lying "requires justification whereas honesty doesn't." Three experiments that were conducted showed that participants, when honesty was enough to meet demands, honest messages were chosen almost all of the time. Deception was observed less of the time when variations of the same situations made the truth problematic. Timothy Levine, one of the publishers of this article, ends this well, "It is concluded that people usually deceive for a reason, that motives producing deception are usually the same that guide honesty, and that people usually do not lie when goals attainable through honest means."

I picked this article because this depicts one of the main reasons why people lie, to deceive their motives. In The Crucible, some of the characters deceive others to either protect themselves or to put the blame on another person.

One instance of this is when Abigail Williams, is put on trial for a lie, that was pointed out by John Proctor. Instead of telling the truth, Abby puts the blame on Goody Proctor calling her a witch. “Goody always kept poppets.” Which is accusing her of keeping dolls for witchcraft. She did this in order to remove all the attention from her to Goody, which worked and ended up putting Goody and John in jail while Abby was scott-free.

When it comes to the consequences of people lying and their motivation to do so, the article, “Motivation and Consequences of Lying. A Qualitative Analysis of Everyday Lying,” states that, “People lie in order to gain something, whether it may be a lot or a little. In the article it states that people lie for beneficial purposes or self oriented. A typology motivation for lying can be identified as, egotistical, self-defense, pleasing and possibly sheltering others. Consequences of lying can lead to the distrust of many, and distancing yourself from said person, the potential of withdrawing or ending the relationship, verbal fighting, and lastly the turning point. The turning point can lead to the destruction of the relationship or working on it. The discovery of a lie may teach the person something about life and other people.”

I choose this article because it explains the consequences and the motivation of why people lie very well. In the Crucible, Marry Warren lied to the court to protect herself from Abby and put the blame on John to protect herself from Abby's torturing gaze.

In conclusion, there are many reasons why people lie and their consequences but we don’t really know what goes on in a person's head but we can still steer them into the right path. As it says in Proverbs 12:22, "The LORD detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy."