They can occur in any of the following contexts: When there is insufficient supporting evidence to determine whether it is true or false, an accusation is described as "unsubstantiated" or "unfounded".
Accusations that are determined to be false based on corroborating evidence can be divided into three categories:[2] A false allegation can occur as the result of intentional lying on the part of the accuser;[3][4] or unintentionally, due to a confabulation, either arising spontaneously due to mental illness[3] or resulting from deliberate or accidental suggestive questioning, or faulty interviewing techniques.
Mr. Psych finds the picture frame broken, and instantly throws a tantrum, screams, threatens and blames innocent co-workers creating a hostile work environment.
[2][13][14][15] Of the allegations determined to be false, only a small portion originated with the child, the studies showed; most false allegations originated with an adult bringing the accusations on behalf of a child, and of those, a large majority occurred in the context of divorce and child-custody battles.
[2][16] According to a 2003 survey by the Workplace Bullying Institute, the most common bullying tactics included false attribution of "errors" to an employee, glaring or other hostile body language, dismissive comments, the "silent treatment", and/or making up arbitrary "rules" to ensure that a victim breaks them.
[18] The case has been made that diagnoses of Münchausen syndrome by proxy, that is harming someone else in order to gain attention for oneself, are often false or highly questionable.