My 33,000 blog...
When you were a kid and your parents found out you did something they forbid you to do, what was your excuse?It could have been smoking in the alley with your buddies and your neighbor caught you and told your mother. Did you use the lame (peer pressure) excuse "All my friends were doing it. I didn't want them to call me a sissy for not joining them"
That made it right...right?
What about the one where your parents don't want you to do something your older brother is allowed to do? "Well, you let Jimmy do it, why can't I do it too?"
Ignoring that your brother is 8 years older.
Different situation and different rules that apply.
I think kids that resort to 'permission by association' as a way of increasing the envelop of what they are allowed to do. So if you were bad and have to 'go to your room and miss dinner' it's a tiny punishment, because you know you can sneak downstairs at 2am and help yourself a slice of pie and a glass of milk and no one will notice the next morning.
Do things like that for twenty years and it becomes habitual... the percentage of getting caught is rather low and overall the gain is much less than the pain.
Cheaters and pathological liars fall into the same category.
When caught, any excuse to pass the blame to someone else...
Some people are good about throwing smoke screens to 'squeak out' of a tight spot and not getting hurt.