# Is there a term for either: a person who starts to believe their own lies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 7, 2012, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-either-a-person-who-starts-to-believe-their-own-lies/612126 "2012-02-07T22:01:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-either-a-person-who-starts-to-believe-their-own-lies/612126/21 "2012-02-10T22:01:13Z")
Delusional is another term that could be applied. Delusional revisionist? Not exactly pithy, but I think it’s accurate. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-either-a-person-who-starts-to-believe-their-own-lies/612126/22 "2012-02-10T23:20:47Z")
> [@George Lucas](#): > > The controversy over who shot first, Greedo or Han Solo, in ‘Episode IV,’ what I did was try to clean up the confusion, but obviously it upset people because they wanted Solo [who seemed to be the one who shot first in the original] to be a cold-blooded killer, but he actually isn’t. It had been done in all close-ups and it was confusing about who did what to whom. I put a little wider shot in there that made it clear that Greedo is the one who shot first, but everyone wanted to think that Han shot first, because they wanted to think that he actually just gunned him down. Maybe we should start calling those people Lucas. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-either-a-person-who-starts-to-believe-their-own-lies/612126/23 "2012-02-11T00:06:23Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > > [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > > > Ronald Reagan told various stories in speeches, seeming to be true, but which turned out to be scenes from movies that he had been in. Especially as he got older. > > I totally believe you. > > But cite? Snopes describes one such story [here](http://www.snopes.com/glurge/military/ridedown.asp), based, in part, on a movie called “Wing and a Prayer” (although not a movie in which he appeared. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-either-a-person-who-starts-to-believe-their-own-lies/612126/24 "2012-02-11T03:00:46Z")
[Cretans](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epimenides_paradox)? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-either-a-person-who-starts-to-believe-their-own-lies/612126/25 "2012-02-11T08:33:50Z")
Mother in Law works for me. ---
**Author:** ![obbn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d6d6ee/32.png) [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-either-a-person-who-starts-to-believe-their-own-lies/612126/26 "2012-02-11T10:03:50Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > \*\*Is there a term for either: a person who starts to believe their own lies? \*\* > > Republican > > Reagan’s favorite story was about the time as a baseball announcer on the radio the wire broke, and he had to make up the action in the game. > > That’s right, he was bragging about what a good liar he was. Good to know that Democrats are immune to lying. Thanks for pointing out that liars are the exclusive domain of the Republican party. My favorite recent truthful quote from a be-loved liberal is the famous “I did not sleep with that woman, Monica Lewinski”.:dubious: ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-either-a-person-who-starts-to-believe-their-own-lies/612126/27 "2012-02-11T13:57:51Z")
> [@obbn](#): > > Good to know that Democrats are immune to lying. Thanks for pointing out that liars are the exclusive domain of the Republican party. My favorite recent truthful quote from a be-loved liberal is the famous “I did not sleep with that woman, Monica Lewinski”.:dubious: I believe the actual quote was : (Clinton): “I’m going to say this once, only: I did not have sex with that woman, Miss Lewinsky”. I took from this the feeling that Clinton actually thought that while telling a falsehood, because of the way he phrased his answer (as if he was not identifying “Miss Lewinsky” as “that woman”), he was actually being truthful. There was also his statement “it depends upon what “is” is”-I took this as an effort to deceive, using wordplay. In any event, I think Clinton did actually believed that he was telling “the truth”-whatever meaning that had to him. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-either-a-person-who-starts-to-believe-their-own-lies/612126/28 "2012-02-11T14:07:22Z")
Moderator bat-phone ringing! ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-either-a-person-who-starts-to-believe-their-own-lies/612126/29 "2012-02-11T22:00:12Z")
> [@obbn](#): > > Good to know that Democrats are immune to lying. Thanks for pointing out that liars are the exclusive domain of the Republican party. My favorite recent truthful quote from a be-loved liberal is the famous “I did not sleep with that woman, Monica Lewinski”.:dubious: [Moderator Warning] **obbn** , given that I’ve already issued a warning for the post you are responding to and explained the rule on political potshots, I don’t know why you felt you had to answer with another. This is an official warning for political jabs in GQ. Do not do this again. Further political commentary of this sort by anyone will receive a warning. Those who wish to discuss the relative truthfulness of Democrats or Republicans can do so in either GD or the Pit. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![toodlepip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/97f17d/32.png) [@toodlepip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toodlepip)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-either-a-person-who-starts-to-believe-their-own-lies/612126/30 "2012-02-11T23:18:41Z")
I used to work with a compulsive liar. He lied to get himself out of difficult situations, he lied to keep people happy, he lied to cover up other lies, and he lied _when he didn’t have to_, when the truth would have been easier and there was nothing to be gained from lying. It was terribly frustrating, to say the least. He did seem to believe his own web of lies to a rather large extent, and did not cope well with being called out on any of it. When confronted with one of his obvious lies, he would get very frustrated. He could argue his way out of almost anything. If he couldn’t, or in the face of hard evidence, his absolute last resort would be something along the lines of “I was so tired and overworked at the time, I didn’t know what I was saying”. He seemed to think anything he said carried enough authority that it should be believed, however unlikely or demonstrably wrong. There was definitely an element of arrogance there, thinking he was smarter than everyone else. I also think the lies became truth for him, but I always wondered at what point in his mental processing this happened. Confabulation doesn’t quite fit, I’d love to know if there is a word for this. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-either-a-person-who-starts-to-believe-their-own-lies/612126/31 "2012-02-11T23:31:15Z")
Cognitive dissonance. Wikipedia: > [@](#): > > The theory of cognitive dissonance in social psychology proposes that people have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance by altering existing cognitions or adding new ones to create consistency.[1] The diagram to the right shows a new cognition being integrated into a person’s belief system to resolve such a conflict. An example of this would be the conflict between wanting to smoke and knowing that smoking is unhealthy; a person may try to change their feelings about the odds that they will actually suffer the consequences, or they might add the consonant element that the smoking is worth short term benefits. The idea is that people re-arrange their beliefs to fit conflicting motivations. In terms of the OP, the rewards people get from telling a good story conflict with that small part of them that knows it’s not true. So they convince themselves the story is true – and ironically the tale gets even better. A good way to convince others is to first convince yourself. **Sampiro** : Check out the wiki article on [cognitive dissonance](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance): it’s quite good. You might use it as a lead, in order to find the specific answer in a (cog?) psych textbook. Wiki also has a section on [bad faith](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_faith): “In bad faith, it is from myself that I am hiding the truth” – Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness So there’s your term. But if you use it, I would guess that many would misunderstand, for it has other more common meanings. The cognitive dissonance article is much richer. (Hm. Maybe the french have an expression for this phenomenon.) ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-either-a-person-who-starts-to-believe-their-own-lies/612126/32 "2012-02-12T00:24:33Z")
This may be too much of a hijack, but is there a term for what it’s called when a person tells exaggerated stories (say, about personal heroism) and believes they’re true, or when that same person will deny having done something that you just watched him do, and will believe it? I suppose it’s a form of delusion but I’ve always wondered if it has a particular name. (Toward the end of my acquaintance with him he made us all very nervous, but I don’t think any of us had any idea what to do about it either. He was relatively normal when I first met him, and gradually got scary. Schizophrenia, maybe? He was about the right age.) ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2012, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-either-a-person-who-starts-to-believe-their-own-lies/612126/33 "2012-02-13T04:28:53Z")
I don’t see why Confabulation wouldn’t cover that. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-either-a-person-who-starts-to-believe-their-own-lies/612126/34 "2012-02-15T02:27:14Z")
I had somehow missed **Askance** ’s referenced [wiki entry on confabulation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confabulation). Also: mythmaking, mythmaker, myth creation. For completeness, I will add the related (though admittedly different) concepts of [special pleading](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_pleading), [one-sided argument](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-sided_argument), and the Master’s piece, [Is there really such a thing as a pathological liar?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/988/is-there-really-such-a-thing-as-a-pathological-liar) The literature on false confessions is also of note. Google for Pezdek, Sperry and Owens, “Interviewing Witnesses: The Effect of Forced Confabulation on Event Memory” and Kasin, “Internalized False Confessions”, which describes confabulation as the process by which witnesses "concoct details to fit their newly formed belief ". ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-either-a-person-who-starts-to-believe-their-own-lies/612126/35 "2012-02-15T05:58:28Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > Maybe we should start calling those people Lucas. I think [we](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=14760117#post14760117) may be on to something. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-either-a-person-who-starts-to-believe-their-own-lies/612126.md?page=1)