When Faced With Liars, Skepticism Can Help |
If you find yourself in a relationship, workplace, or political environment that is constructed more on lies than truth, it is helpful to use psychological research to remain safe and sane. Lies target our mental health, yet we receive little training on how to keep our brains protected from this kind of abuse.
Our brains were not designed to pour resources into trying to figure out if someone is telling the truth or not. We evolved to need connection and community to survive. In general, our brains give people the benefit of the doubt to preserve cognitive resources for many other cognitive demands.
We are gullible by nature, and even highly educated and advanced individuals can be manipulated by falsehoods. That said, there are strategies that all of us can use if we are concerned that someone is trying to mislead us. These strategies can alert us to liars before our brains get traumatized.
Outlined in detail in The Gaslit Brain, six strategies can protect you from the lies of bullying, gaslighting, and institutional complicity. In essence, bullying hinges on two foundational lies:
Those who tell these lies apply a superficial rationale for why they target and harm others. The rationale is frequently fabricated, and yet others accept the lie. Others “believe” the lie because it’s often dangerous to resist it in abuse cultures that are built on humiliation, fear, favoritism, and retaliation.
Gaslighting further undermines targets by making them wonder if, in fact, they deserve the abuse, perhaps the maltreatment is their fault. Self-doubt creeps in, further destabilizing and stressing the brain. A........