Knowing the personality traits of chronic liars is vital in helping you know how to react to them, and their negative behaviors. Here are some of the traits you can look for.
Pathological Liar’s Personality Traits
First, let’s take a look at the pathological liar’s traits.
Abusive and Aggressive
They utilize physical and emotional abuse and threaten people who insist they are lying. They are aggressive and get easily angered in situations or by people who question their motives.
Excellent in Weaving Stories
They are experts in making up exaggerated and detailed stories that appear to be true, and it can be hard to know if they are indeed false. They appear so confident when they lie that you don’t know it is one big fabricated story.
Cunning and Manipulative
They lie because they want to influence people or influence a situation to make it go according to their plan.
Lack Empathy
They don’t care about anyone or anything, which is why it is easy for them to walk all over people and not feel guilty about who they hurt.
They care only about themselves. They don’t care that their lies may hurt the feelings and rights of others for a very long time.
Deceptive and Deceitful
They talk and act deceptively to destroy the confidence and honesty of someone telling the truth, and they are deceitful in their intentions.
Jealous
They get jealous for many reasons. For example, they can be jealous of anyone getting more attention than they do, or if they are smarter than them, or ‘better’ than them in their eyes. They also get jealous of people having the things they want but don’t have. Be careful if you are one of the people that they are jealous of!
Self-Centered and Selfish
A personality that is concerned only for their own needs and wants becomes self-centered and selfish. Their self-interest and wants fuel their dishonesty. It’s why they tell lies, to get what they want with little consideration for the needs and wants of others.
Defensive
If you point out discrepancies in their stories, they become defensive and will betray you when they get an opportunity. They will create more lies to support the first one and become manipulative. Their version is always the right one and you are the one who is mistaken.
Compulsive Liar’s Personality Traits
Attention-Seeker
They love to gain other peoples’ sympathy and attention by telling captivating stories that will boost their self-image. They exaggerate situations to make them look great, when they may not have done anything notable at all.
Low Self-Esteem and Confidence
On the outside, they appear to have thick skin, because they don’t appear to care what they say, but deep down they have low self-worth. Therefore, they lie about their achievements.
Gossiper
Keeping a secret is hard for them because they enjoy sharing and spreading gossip. It tickles their fancy and gives them great enjoyment until the tables turn and the gossip is about them. Then they will lie again. They also embellish the truth before passing on what they have heard.
Poor Storytellers
Their lies get them confused, as they keep changing the version of their stories to different people. They lose track of what they have said, so they lie to try and fix the different storylines they have given. Their actions don’t match their words and their body language usually betrays them. They can appear agitated.
Emotionally Abusive
A compulsive liar is a person who lies out of habit. Habitual lying is considered to be emotional abuse by mental health professionals. Unfortunately, because it is habitual behavior, compulsive liars tell mistruths automatically and unconsciously.
Coping with Chronic Liars
Coping with people who are chronic liars can be easier if you understand the science of why their mind works the way it does. Ask yourself, do they have an underlying mental health disorder or are they simply lying out of habit? What is their background? Is that the cause of their lying problem?
Once you have made your own analysis, it will help you in the future when dealing with this person. If you care about them you can encourage them to seek professional help, however, you may only get blasted with more lies about their reasons or actions. It is totally up to them to admit they have a problem and to do something about it.
