Lying Rhetorical Strategies Used in Lying Honest Term Paper

Lying

Rhetorical Strategies used in Lying

Honest self-disclosure is an important factor that strengthens interpersonal relationships, since this is a manifestation of one's trust and sincerity to the individual. However, there are sometimes situations or information about one's self that cannot be easily disclosed, for reasons that every individual can have: perhaps disclosure of personal information may threaten or weaken the relationship, or simply, the individual is not yet ready to let his/her partner know about particular information about his/her life.

One alternative to self-disclosure is lying. Defined as the "deliberate attempt to hide or misrepresent the truth," lying is considered unethical since it is an act of disinformation, a breach of one's trust and belief to the individual (Adler, 1998:332). There are many reasons for lying. People may lie in order to avoid tension or conflict, to save face from embarrassment or shame, to guide social interaction among other people, to expand or reduce relationships, or sometimes, to gain power.Some people may consider lying as an outright form of unethical behavior. Thus, there three rhetorical strategies that allows individuals to prevent self-disclosure of information without directly committing oneself to the act of lying. These rhetorical strategies are: white lying, equivocating, and hinting (335-8).

In order to further understand these rhetorical strategies, a hypothetical example is used: suppose that you decided to live with your partner, and felt the necessity to of telling the truth about your character and attitudes. Although you still feel hesitant to disclose every personal information about yourself, you want your partner to gradually create an idea of your personality and attitude. Suppose also that the information that you want to tell, yet not fully disclose, to your partner is your dislike for having children in the house. You….....