Dan Ariely says that you are a liar

On Friday, behavoiral economist Dan Ariely will join us to explain why we cheat and lie.

We used the Public Insight Network to find out if people think it is okay to lie and, if so, when.

Mary wrote it is sometimes acceptable to lie:

Sometimes a lie to spare another person pain, but even then one must consider if it would not be better for that person to know the truth. To save a life. I think of the movie "Agnes of God," in which the key question was: is it always better to know the truth?

Her late husband had a even stricter code of honesty:

My late husband, Sam, was... a congenital truth-teller; he never engaged in anything remotely resembling a lie or even slight distortion in either his professional or private life -- except on one occasion, when, with great difficulty, I convinced him that a little white lie would spare my aged dad some pain. Although this was a tough quality to live with sometimes, it made him solid as a mountain, trusted as a man of integrity, both in (his work) and in his personal relationships.

Linda said she lies and isn't always aware of when she does it:

The hardest lies to detect are the ones I tell myself. I am an optimist. Sometimes the truth about myself isn't rosy and denial takes over.

When asked "what role does lying take in your life?" Bill answered emphatically:

!! NONE !! As a Follower of Jesus (which is radically different from Christianity, Churchianity or Religianity), my responsibility-job-privilege to "render honest verdicts," or call 'em the way I see 'em, the way they actually are. Often, there are multiple ways of stating a case, and some may be more positive and-or encouraging than others but without shading the truth. I will do that.

How about you? Tell us what you think of lying and cheating

--Stephanie Curtis, social media host

• Amazon’s top 100 books of 2014
• What turned you into a reader?
• 17 book ideas for the fall