Why we believe the 'big lie'

Governments have been known to lie and while sometimes the lies are small, other times they can be large. As social scientists explore why governments lie, Andrew White, a professor of government, explains in this Boston Globe story that even when the government lies, a proportion of the population believes that information, putting pressure on others who don't.

“You might look around and see that other people seem to believe it and conclude it’s not worth sticking your neck out to challenge the mistruth,” Little is quoted as saying. He says that government lies seem to increase when “there’s strong social pressure to fall in line.”