What is honesty?

1. Honesty has relation to commitment or promises. When one promises something they may be judged on their honesty, when or when not the have fulfilled what they have promised to do.

2. Honesty also means giving accurate information about an experience. After having done something, instead of promising to do something, a person's honesty can be judged based on whether not they depict an experience accurately.

How does one know when some one is being dishonest?
1) Experiencing or knowing that a person was or wasn't doing something as communicated. For example, one can find out if another person was being honest about their whereabouts through an alibi. This is even so effective at determining truth that it is part of the determining guilt in crime activity.
2) By the person proving that there take on events is accurate. General example: I have x, therefore I was at A.
3) By a person admitting that they were dishonest. A person admitting that they were dishonest, and offering another explanation for things, might not be as valid as way as determining honesty as other methods.
4) Physical indications. People can have tells. For example, when I am lying usually if asked if I am telling the truth I smile when lying. Other tells can be hints of increased nervousness, a sense of the person being deceitful in their communications.

When do people lie?
1) To avoid trouble - People think of others in terms of how they will treat them. When thinking of the possibility of avoiding undesired effects, avoiding punishment, people may try to lie there way out of the consequence.
2) To conceal behaviors of self or other - one might lie so as to conceal behaviors, as to avoid some kind of judgment, not just punishment.
3) To benefit self or others - It may be in one's benefit or another benefit to lie, in situations where life is threatened. Some humans have lied to save the life others, while other people may have lied to gain something they couldn't without concealing the ordeal. Right or wrong lies, aren't as relevant in a world where we lie because of how it will effect others or ourselves. People themselves, may have their own code of morals, which work to determine when it is acceptable or rejectable to lie.
4) To tease - it might considered humorous or a reason to laugh at people that can be easily think as they are lied to.

Honesty as expectation - The expectation of dishonesty/honesty comes from frequency of person A being honest/dishonest.

Honesty as a characteristic - Being honest becomes the characteristic of integrity.

Learned honesty - Children may be taught not to lie, or commanded. It also may be a conditioned way of communicating.

People can also be bribed to tell the truth or bribed to lie.