Least likely liars score high on HEXACO scale personality traits.

Prolific liars score high on Machiavellianism and Disengagement scales and low on HEXACO characteristics.

People lie when the truth gets in the way of more important goals.

Prolific liars may lie pathologically or due to personality disorders.

For well over a century, clinicians have documented the act of frequent lying with labels like "pseudologia fantastica" and "mythomania." More recently, psychologists are researching the characteristics of those who lie to excess. Psychology program directors and researchers Drew Curtis at Angelo State University and Christian L. Hart, from Texas Woman’s University, define lying as an intentional act to make someone believe something the liar doesn’t believe to be true, which can “become monstrous lies to cover lies, to cover lies.”

In 2022, Curtis and Hart interviewed 653 people to determine how many lies a day they consider typical or characteristic of the general populace, and at what point the number of lies told becomes a “problem.” Respondents reported telling an average of one to two lies a day. This is consistent with previous studies, as is the number of lies told per day (nine or more) that warrant labeling a liar as habitual, compulsive, or pathological.

Curtis and Hart differentiate between pathological excessive lying and lying due to a personality disorder. They consider lying pathological if it impairs the liar’s functioning, harms others, and brings distress, risk, or danger to others. They note that for pathological liars, compulsion to lie in the moment reduces anxiety and brings momentary feelings of relief, but afterwards it may lead........

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