That would seem to make sense, but in practice you don’t see too many people who set out to be liars and it didn’t pan out. Unless we count criminals who received harsh punishment, but there’s a whole other story there, one thing bring that they often end up imprisoned again. Overall, the percentage of ex-convicts among honest folk doesn’t seem to be that high.
I think honest people usually start out as honest, since it’s a culturally valued quality, and thereby don’t get much experience at lying. People who lie regularly usually get more skilled (or constantly caught) at more benign lies, and don’t raise the stakes to prison-order right off the bat.
This is a little off-topic, but wouldn’t that theory work better the other way?
It’s not like lying is working out for them.
That would seem to make sense, but in practice you don’t see too many people who set out to be liars and it didn’t pan out. Unless we count criminals who received harsh punishment, but there’s a whole other story there, one thing bring that they often end up imprisoned again. Overall, the percentage of ex-convicts among honest folk doesn’t seem to be that high.
I think honest people usually start out as honest, since it’s a culturally valued quality, and thereby don’t get much experience at lying. People who lie regularly usually get more skilled (or constantly caught) at more benign lies, and don’t raise the stakes to prison-order right off the bat.