Lying, is not rare, and most Homo sapiens are very
adept at it; lying is easy to do; lies are big and small; and lying to
strangers, coworkers, friends and loved ones are typical and frequent. Further,
Homo sapiens are terrible at detecting lies. It is believed that the use of
exaggeration and/or lies of omission have been part of our culture for a long
time, and play good a significant role in the human condition of gullibility.
Remember, the Ninth Commandment “You shall not bear false witness against your
neighbor” was purposely written a long time ago and still remains not respected
nor possible. Dr. Bella De Paulo, a social psychologist, decades ago, reported
that subjects, in her research, lied an average of 1 to 2 times a day; most of
the lies were innocuous and with the purpose to hide one’s inadequacies or to
protect the feelings of others; some lies were excuses; and further, most
people have at some point told one or more serious lies during their lifetime.
It is
speculated that lying behavior began shortly after the emergence of language. “It’s so easy compared to the other ways of
gaining power,” stated Dr. Sissela Bok an ethicist at Harvard University.
Researchers have also found that Homo sapiens easily believe in lies, in spite
of contradictory evidence or facts suggesting otherwise. Because of the productivity
for deceiving others, this exposes our vulnerability of receiving false
information. Social media has added to society’s inability or difficulty in keeping
up with the truth and separating truth from non-truth.
Other
research, by Dr. Kang Lee, at the University of Toronto, in the study of
children, found that kids become more proficient at lying as they become older.
Theory of the Mind is one idea used to explain the phenomena. It is believed that
the facility we acquire for understanding the beliefs, intentions and knowledge
of others, is when the child has the
ability to put himself in someone else’s shoes . This happens during the
evolution and development of the executive function of the brain. They found
that two-year-olds, who lied, performed better on tests of theory of the mind
and executive function than those who didn’t; and, at age 16 kids that were
proficient liars simply out performed poor liars using the same variables.
To Be
Continued
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