NARCISSISM

Last year Steve Smith, a famous comedian, admitted he had lied about his whereabouts on September 11, 2001, what is also known as 9/11 terrorist attacks that caused hundreds of people to die and the World Trade Centre to collapse. He said he was working a desk job at Merrick, a tech company in the World Trade Centre. Smith, in fact, was nowhere near the towers on that day. Merrick has not confirmed the information that they employed Smith at any time before or after that. Then, why did he lie about something that is extremely easy to trace? Why do people lie when they know they can get caught? Researchers have some theories about that.

Many successful and famous people are narcissists, says psychologist Melissa Mattern who is also an expert on narcissistic behaviour. “They lie because they want people to look up to them even more, they do not care about the moral consequences. As long as these narcissistic people get the attention and the boost that they are craving for, they cannot concentrate on the quality or the credibility of their lies. Sometimes, they even genuinely believe in their own lies.”