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Plagiarism: Why do people Lie??

The dog ate my homework.
That dress really looks good on you. Lies.

We hear them everywhere. Be it from the mouth of a politician glossing over the facts or a desperate student trying to cover up for his night of hedonism and disregard for homework, lies are being told all over the place by just about everybody you can name.

‘I Did It’ - Plagiarism.

A serious offense committed by desperate students who have to hand in a paper by the next morning, but have neither the time nor the imagination to compose their own thoughts or ideas.

This is seriously damaging, whether or not the person gets caught. A student who gets away with it is encouraged by his own audacity to try the trick again. And again. Until he/she gets caught.

This dependence on somebody else’s work hampers his own creativity, and suppresses his ability to think for himself - something that is not going to get him anywhere in the long run. It is also damaging to those who are honest enough to do their own research, but get poorer grades than those who cheated, thus causing them to think that there is little use in pouring so much effort into their assignment.

And if the cheat gets caught - well, let’s just say that it’s usually a case of copyright infringement. At the very least, the student gets suspended - or expelled.

Why People Lie - a Summary

This is clearly covered, different types of lies and on what occasions people tell them, in the article. But here is the question - what makes people lie?

Greed - for power, for advantage, for money, for admiration
Fear - we are sometimes driven to lie by fear - usually of what will happen if we tell the truth
Acceptance - no man is an island. We find ourselves doing whatever it takes to be accepted, to be liked and appreciated
Habit - compulsive liars lie compulsively because they are used to it