Communication is a functional, proactive and strategic aspect of human socialization. Individuals have the ability to make conscious decisions to control their expressive language to manipulate the perceived interpretations of others (Burgoon, Callister, & Hunsaker, 445). As people acquire language, they develop a sensitivity to Gricean maxims of conversation. The first of these maxims is “Quantity I,” or the failure to provide sufficient information. The second of these maxims is “Quantity II,” or the provision of excessive or redundant information. The third of these maxims is “Quality,” or truthfulness (Siegal, Iozzi, & Surian, 2009). These three Gricean maxims of conversation alone encompass the prevalence of various forms of lying in the context of human communication. The meaning of lying is that it can change various outcomes which have a negative impact on various circumstances. In the healthcare field, patients may lie to healthcare providers for a variety of reasons, including to purchase unnecessary or excessive medications, to avoid embarrassment or judgment, and to reduce expensive medical bills that may accumulate over time. “However well-intentioned the doctor may be when faced with a patient in need of help, it is he who has the advantage deriving from the knowledge he possesses (the truth) and his abilities: a disproportion occurs between these two parts” (Tanasiewicz, 2005, 16). Regardless of the motivation patients may have for lying, they may jeopardize personal well-being by risking physiological harm as a result of their actions. According to a study conducted by DePaulo et al. (1996), as cited in Serota, Levine, and Boster (2010), “Participants in the community study, on average, told one lie every day; participants i...... middle of paper ......collegeboard.org/Burgoon, M., Callister, M., & Hunsaker, F. (1994). Patients who deceive: An empirical investigation of patient-doctor communication. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 13(4), 443-468.DePaulo, B.M., Kashy, D.A., Kirkendol, S.E., Wyer, M.M., & Epstein, J.A. (1996). Lying in everyday life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 979–995. Serota, K., Levine, T., & Boster, F. (2010). The prevalence of lying in America: Three studies of self-reported lying. Human Communication Research, 36, 2-25. Siegal, M., Iozzi, L., & Surian, L. (2009). Bilingualism and conversational comprehension in young children. Cognition, 110(1), 115-122. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2008.11.002Tanasiewicz, M. (2005). The truth, the misunderstanding or the lie? Different forms of doctor-patient relationship. Medical Ethics Bulletin, 209, 13-17.