Claudia Moscovici 
Untruthfulness and Insincerity
We’ve gotten to Cleckley’s most significant symptoms of psychopathy: untruthfulness and insincerity. This is so central to the psychopath’s character and way of life that it deserves its own chapter, if not its own book. Psychopaths are pathological liars. They not only lie profusely, but also their whole identity is an elaborate ruse. They use both truth and lies to manipulate others. Cleckley observes, “The psychopath shows a remarkable disregard for truth and is to be trusted no more in his accounts of the past than in his promises for the future or his statement of present intentions” (341). We’ve all told lies in our lives. Some lies, especially those we call “white lies,” are relatively innocuous. They enable us to avoid hurting other people’s feelings. If we tell a friend that she looks good in a pair of jeans that’s a little too tight on her, it won’t destroy her life. Other lies, however, deeply damage the lives of others. When we cheat on our spouse, it hurts him or her. It doesn’t matter if he or she knows about the affair or not. It doesn’t even matter if we lie, and say we were with a friend when in actuality we were with a lover, or if we don’t say anything at all. In both cases, we’re distorting the truth or withholding crucial information that would hurt our spouse and that deeply affects his or her life decisions. Among harmful lies, Susan Forward, the author of the best-selling book When Your Lover Is a Liar distinguishes between lies by “omission” and lies by “commission.”
Neil Entwistle lied mostly by omission. He failed to inform Rachel that he was seeking other women for sex. He didn’t tell her that he got bored with their marriage and no longer wanted the responsibility of having a wife and child. He also failed to inform her that he lacked the funds to cover their growing expenses. Had he given her this information, she might have left him. Both she and their baby might have escaped alive. By way of contrast, Mark Hacking preferred to lie by commission. He gave Lori false information about what he did and about what he was planning to do in life. He told her that he had a certain kind of education when he didn’t. He told her that he was going to medical school when he wasn’t. These lies were fundamental not only to the future they were planning together, but also to who Lori thought Mark was. For these psychopaths, the lies furnished convenient fictions. They held up the false image they wanted to project to their families and friends. They camouflaged their real, predatory desires and controlling nature. They hid their underlying self-absorption, their excessive concern with their image and their obsession with the pursuit of perverse pleasures at other people’s expense. They bought them love, loyalty and time to have the family they wanted until they no longer wanted it.
Not only do psychopaths believe that they have compelling reasons to lie to others in order to achieve their goals, but also they fail to see why lying is wrong. Cleckley observes that upon questioning, a psychopath “gives the impression that he is incapable of ever attaining realistic comprehension of an attitude in other people which causes them to value truth and cherish truthfulness in themselves” (341). When caught in a lie, if convenient, sometimes a psychopath may pay lip service to honesty. But he doesn’t actually believe in it. He certainly doesn’t live by it. The problem remains, as before, that it’s difficult to determine when a psychopath’s lying. He can look you straight in the eyes and give you false information. He can make promises he knows to be unrealistic or untrue. Furthermore, he’s so glib and uninhibited that he lies with great eloquence and conviction. As Cleckley observes:
Typically [the psychopath] is at ease and unpretentious in making a serious promise or in (falsely) exculpating himself from accusations, whether grave or trivial. His simplest statement in such matters carries special powers of conviction. Overemphasis, obvious glibness, and other traditional signs of the clever liar do not usually show in his words or in his manner… Candor and trustworthiness seem implicit in him at such times. During the most solemn perjuries he has no difficulty at all in looking anyone tranquilly in the eyes (341).
How can you tell when a psychopath is lying? I’m tempted to say, only partly in jest, that it’s when he’s moving his lips. But even that wouldn’t cover all the lies by omission. When dealing with a psychopath, or with any person for that matter, you need to judge his actions, not just his words. Very often, a psychopath’s insensitive attitude and despicable actions will contradict his nice words. He will say that he loves you but remain unmoved when you suffer and consistently act against your best interests. He will promise to be faithful while frequently cheating on you. Based on my observations, a psychopath lies in large part because he enjoys playing a game with you as his pawn. The match doesn’t follow any particular rules since psychopaths don’t play fair. Yet, like all games, it includes certain maneuvers. To help others identify psychopathic deception, I’ll describe below some of the strategies I’ve observed. Let me begin by analyzing first why psychopaths lie, since that gets to the heart of their malice and reveals their inherent cruelty.
Dangerous Liaisons/Legături Periculoase, Editura Vremea, http://www.edituravremea.ro/leg–turi-periculoase–cum-s–recuno–ti-un-psihopat–i-s–scapi-din-mrejele-lui
