George Santos isn’t a pathological liar, in line with the psychologist who wrote the ebook on pathological mendacity
- Christian L. Hart co-wrote the definition on pathological mendacity in 2022.
- Hart stated pathological liars really feel unhealthy about their lies, and it creates nervousness.
- George Santos, who has been charged with mendacity to Congress, doubled down on his claims.
George Santos lies a lot, it is laborious to maintain up.
The New York Congressman stated his grandmother was a Holocaust sufferer (she wasn’t); he stated his mother, who died in 2016, was within the Twin Towers on 9/11 (unlikely); he stated he had an financial and finance diploma from Baruch Faculty (he does not) and that he was a star volleyball participant there (George, please); he claimed he was “a proud American Jew” (he’s not Jewish, and now says that was a joke). It is unclear if he was a drag queen in Brazil, or if he was the sufferer of an assassination try, and it appears he wasn’t really a Broadway producer.
In Might, he was indicted on 13 federal prices, together with fraud and mendacity to Congress. Prosecutors allege that he lied to gather unemployment advantages, that he lied to donors, and that he lied to Congress.
However, shockingly, that does not imply you possibly can name him a “pathological liar.”
“He does not actually appear to fulfill our scientific standards of pathological mendacity,” Dr. Christian L. Hart, the psychologist who co-wrote the ebook on pathological mendacity, instructed Insider. “There is a distinction between pathological mendacity and bullshitting,” Hart added.
Pathological liars really feel unhealthy about mendacity
The time period “pathological liar” has existed for over 100 years, however there was no consensus on what that meant, past “these individuals lie rather a lot.” “It is a time period that will get thrown round in simply sort of widespread vernacular on a regular basis,” Hart, a professor of psychology at Texas Girl’s College, stated.
Hart and his co-author, psychologist Drew A. Curtis, PhD, determined to tackle the duty of defining it of their 2022 ebook, “Pathological Mendacity: Principle, Analysis, and Observe,” drawing from scientific literature and scientific expertise.
The aim of psychopathology — the examine of psychological diseases — is to supply a framework for figuring out and diagnosing temper problems. That means you possibly can distinguish between despair and feeling low, or schizophrenia and bipolar dysfunction.
Here is how pathological mendacity is outlined in the ebook:
- Anomalous conduct. Which means way more — or far much less — frequent than is common within the common inhabitants. (E.g.: it is pure to clean your fingers, however washing them 500 instances per day could also be an indication of obsessive compulsive dysfunction.)
- The lies trigger the person misery. Hart stated somebody exhibiting pathological conduct sometimes needs they may cease, however cannot. “They’re having destructive ideas they usually do not need to really feel that means.”
- The lies trigger dysfunction of their lives, disrupting their social life, work life, and so forth.
- “Lastly, it places them at some type of threat, whether or not it is threat of dropping alternatives, threat of hurt, or loss of life in some circumstances,” Hart stated.
George Santos doubled down on his lies
Hart, like every psychologist, reserves his scientific diagnoses for individuals he examines in particular person. However, he stated, Santos “has put sufficient on the market within the public house the place I feel individuals can draw some common conclusions.”
“A part of being a pathological liar is that the particular person has misery, and dysfunction, and desires to cease,” Hart stated. With George Santos, “there’s simply no proof of that.”
In reality, Santos really addressed “being a horrible liar” in a February interview with Piers Morgan, who went by means of a few of his most high-profile lies one after the other.
Santos stated his lie about being Jewish was “a joke” and doubled down on his declare that his mom was within the World Commerce Heart on 9/11. Whereas he stated that he “regrets” certainly one of his lies (that he had a school schooling), he justified his actions by saying: “This wasn’t about tricking individuals. This was about getting accepted by the celebration right here regionally.”
Why does George Santos lie?
There are a lot of causes for mendacity compulsively.
Low shallowness is a standard one. “If somebody is mendacity pervasively, the core of it might be that they are attempting to hide their true self as a result of they see themselves as being not very beneficial or fascinating,” Hart stated.
Mendacity can be frequent in individuals who show what are known as darkish triad persona traits: narcissism (an inflated and entitled sense of self), Machiavellianism (seeing different individuals as instruments to get what you need to get out of life), and psychopathy (a callous disregard for others).
In accordance with Hart, Santos shows “one thing like delinquent persona dysfunction” (ASPD) — being “daring” and “fearless,” “with a sort of irresponsible lack of impulse management.” Folks with ASPD “are likely to not have regret or guilt,” about mendacity, Hart added.
Politics is a occupation that fosters daring, fearless, impulsive motion, and calls for a thick pores and skin. However apparently you possibly can nonetheless boldly, fearlessly, and impulsively go too far — like whenever you begin mendacity about actually something that pops into your head. It appears Santos has crossed that line: On June 30, he seems in court docket, going through lack of his job and as much as 20 years in jail.
