I read an article a while ago about this study on masturbation. The researcher said that his shows that it's not as common as other psychologists say because in his face-to-face interviews, only 38% percent of women and 61% of men said they did it at all in the last year. He said that he proved them wrong. He did mention that people may have lied if they felt awkward answering that question face to face.
Excuse me while I say NO DUH. Of course a face-to-face interview is not the format to use when trying to get valid statistics about masturbation. That's like...on the list of things you can't expect people to tell you. Another article provides a study about lying when asked an awkward question, discrediting the results of Mr. Brilliant's face-to-face interview.
This brings up the point about how people build secret worlds in their minds and will lie to keep anyone from breaking the walls. In an interview or even in a normal conversation, how do you know if people are telling the truth, or just telling you what they think you want to hear? You don't.
You really don't know what people think. I started clicking around articles and found one on sexual fantasies, saying that in a conclusion of a study of 23,000 people, the most normal people have the weirdest, most shocking fantasies, some of which he calls "frightening, violent, dangerous and disturbing." and that the "most disturbed people" have the most simplistic ones. You would never guess. For all I know, you could fantasize about penguins or something. For all you know, I could be one of the "frightening, violent, dangerous, and disturbing."
I've been put on the spot with questions similar to these, and although I don't have much to hide, I thought it was interesting to see what I couldn't talk about face-to-face but would answer in the dark (truth or dare) or over AIM. I also noticed that some kinds of questions immediately prompt a predetermined response, almost like a reflex, whether it be true or untrue. It's kind of interesting to know that you can hide in your mind and create a secret world you can't tell anyone about. Cost is you have to lie to keep it there.
Love,
Juliana
Lying is a short term solution. It may help you get out of a situation at some point but it's likely that you'll be put in the situation again. It is a lot easier to talk about stuff that's kinda awkward on AIM and online than face to face.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it is, but it'll come back to haunt you later. Just look at all of these politicians who have all kinds of crap about them unearthed on a daily basis. If something pretty awkward is said face to face, hopefully the other person will forget. Actually getting yourself to say what you're dreading to say is the most difficult part, especially if you trust them. Truly trustworthy people have appropriate reactions to what you tell them. If you want to avoid the truth, then there is a problem.
ReplyDeleteI didn't mean avoiding the truth in that way. I meant lying to keep your own secrets, the ones that really don't matter. It's not lying about things you do, just like, in the case of fantasies and stuff like that. You don't have to tell people. That's what I mean by secret world.
ReplyDeleteOh, ok... What if you have an irresistible compulsion to reveal that stuff, though?
ReplyDeleteThen it's not so secret anymore XD
ReplyDelete