Why do we lie? The Science of Lies

We live in a world where lying has become an extremely common practice. It is for this reason that there are many organizations specialized in detecting and verifying fake news and controlling political statements. Of course, the monopoly on lies is not limited to politicians or business leaders. Whether it’s a little boy standing over a broken vase that he says didn’t break, or a teenager telling a story about why he came home two hours late in the evening; Most houses have lies.

On the contrary, our parents and all other authorities continue to tell us that we should not lie. Because truth is built into our culture. well then Why do we lie so much?

Sometimes we do it on the sly, sometimes to protect other people’s feelings. In fact, most of the time we lie unconsciously, as if lying is part of our DNA. Maybe this is true; we are literally born liars by nature. “Born Liar” book author Jan Leslie, considers this issue in detail in his work. He explains in detail that even a 9-month-old baby can lie, that lying can sometimes be good for our health, and that most of your memories are based on lies. As the author explains in the book, we learn to lie early as a skill that helps us survive in society. As we get older, we continue to deceive ourselves and others; of course, not out of stubbornness, maybe out of habit, maybe out of necessity …

Then, “Born Liar” AND the science of liesLet’s take a closer look at this issue by looking at

Our ancestors lied too!

Even if you think you are an honest person, you probably lie from time to time. These lies are often not malicious. Most of us lie for a variety of reasons stemming from our social nature. Because Being a social type is never easy! I think about it; we have to track dozens of relationships, predict how our behavior will affect others, and control our reactions to the actions of others. It’s exhausting to even think about all this.

our ancestors when they start to be more social, it’s deal with growing relationships they started to develop bigger brains. The big brain helped them make better decisions, which strengthened their developing intelligence. This is an academic story. Nicholas Humphrey introduced in 1976 “social intelligence” the basis of the hypothesis. In other words, we soon discovered that lying is an invaluable tool (!) in society.

Let’s say a caveman needs more food. He will quickly realize that he can hide what he has received from others and say that his share was never given to him before. Society we always competitors and competition suggestions, we also have some simple lie We learn to overcome difficulties.

in the 1980s primatologists Richard Byrne AND Andrew Wythen, primates also progress that they lied they discovered. Similarly, two young chimpanzees have been observed in the past to scour the ground for food, and when they spot an older chimpanzee approaching, they quickly sit down and act as if nothing had happened. As you understand, as soon as the old chimpanzees disappeared, they continued to dig in the ground … This is such a lie that requires intelligence. According to Byrne and Whiten, human intelligence right it successful scam scenarios designed with

We know how to lie from birth, we learn when to say when we get older.

What is more interesting than the above examples is that for the lie that we don’t need to be taught. actually more like a child We start to lie. It’s extremely innocent. For example, a 9-month-old baby might fake laughing when other babies next to him start giggling, just to have fun.

Over time, you become more sociable, When We learn to lie. For example At school, we are starting to get a lot of feedback from other people. It’s about lying to us teaches a lot. First of all, that we can lose all trust if we lie too much we learn. Some lies can be dangerous we learn. All this experience gives us an idea of ​​when to lie and when not to. We continue this in new conditions, such as business life and relationships with adults.

We lie not only to others, but also to ourselves.

As you know, none of us perceives reality as it is; our brain Always reality filtering and it gives us our own unique perception. So it is easy to guess that the perception of a person with color blindness and deafness in one ear will be very different from the perception of a person with excellent hearing and more traditional color perception.

Even our brainsome views intentional change. For example, when we get older, when we get sick, or when we carry a heavy load, we see steeper slopes, we have this perception. This is because our brain wants to protect us from injury.

protecting our beliefs For lie to yourself is an extremely common occurrence. Because our beliefs are one of our defining traits, they are important to us. This is why we often tell ourselves that information that contradicts these beliefs is not true. This “the cognitive dissonance” and allows us to ignore the facts rather than reconsider our beliefs. For example, it makes people continue to think that they get drunk every day just to enjoy life and relieve stress, instead of admitting that they are addicted.

Lying to yourself isn’t always bad. You can even talk about its benefits, especially when it comes to innovation. Society develop, development experiencingbefore turn the unimaginable into reality trusts people. To do this, the dreamers need to ignore the realists. In other words, they must deceive themselves. Again do not lie to yourselfshould not go too far. from different sides leaderswhen they ignore logic and think they will win wars arises and societies disappears.

Some Lies Save Lives: The Placebo Effect

Did you know that lies are powerful enough to help heal the human body?

in 1944 Henry BeecherHe was a Harvard professor and physician who assisted the Allied forces in Anzio, Italy. who will ever need emergency surgery wounded soldier came but Beecher morphine it was over. In desperation, one of the nurses signed up dilute salt water giving him an injection, he said it was morphine. It’s strange, this the lie worked. Soldier immediately calmed down and during the operation felt no pain. What Beecher saw today “placebo effect” We are speaking. The placebo effect is actually very strong. medical instrumentbut it is still not known exactly why it works.

Our culture is full of lies… Well, is it wrong to lie?

most of us wrong to lie We are educated when we are taught. Various religions, beliefs and philosophers have been arguing about this for hundreds of years. For example, in 1785 the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, lie against human dignity He wrote that this is an action, so it must necessarily be considered “wrong”. However, he later expressed uncertainty about the matter; In order not to hurt his feelings, he asked if it’s okay to tell a friend that you like what he does, even if you don’t like it…

May be initially in society survive we lied Today, too, we may need to lie for a variety of reasons. Especially lack of resources; inequality, ideological and ethnic tensions, freedom of opinion and expression social environment in which lie extremely for encouragement are environments. But man in a cultural environment based on reason, science and morality, balanced living conditions if he lives with be honest AND resist lies There is also a trend.

Eventually; Everyone can lie from time to time, even with good intentions. However, it can be said that lying can have undesirable consequences, especially when viewed on a social level.

from 2018 One News Washington Post, US President TrumpIn the first eight months of his presidency an average of five per day including 1137 lies or make false statements. Accordingly, before the midterm elections in October, the president held rallies and made 1,205 “false” statements. 110 times “The biggest tax cut he made himself”again 110 times “He has achieved the most solid economic success in history”94 times “the border wall has already been built” He said.

Excerpts about lying from the book “A Born Liar”

So far, we have been inspired by Ian Leslie’s ideas about lying from his book. Let’s reinforce the topic with meaningful quotes from the book:

• “Honesty doesn’t take effort, but it does take work.”
• “How reasonable is that? “I believe” instead of “I know” We can try.”
• “Telling the truth often works. This is a fruitful path for highly social beings like us. Because as Abraham Lincoln said you can’t fool everyone all the time”
• “Man is a flawed creature, but he fair mannot abstract moral codes. social obligations. That is why we must constantly fight for the creation and development of the institutions of an enlightened, free society. Wholeness is something to achieve together.“
• “Criticism of the opposition and the free press keeps the leader on the ground and prevents the spread of false information. For dictators whose power is not balanced in this way and who hear only good things about themselves, falling into dangerous delusions is beyond a reasonable level of self-deception.”
• “The best liars are those who best understand people’s behavior.”
• “The studies of Darling, Talwar and others, the best way to raise a reliable child rely on them, and not try to eradicate negative motives; focusing on positive motives – in short, creating an environment where honesty is the best attitude– shows it.
• “A child who lives under the threat of punishment for lying may just become the best liar.”

Finally; from a child at the head of a broken vase, which we gave at the beginning of the article, to a politician speaking at a political rally; it would be very good if we could believe everything we are told. But this is impossible. Because we all know how to lie, and recognizing a lie is more difficult than you think. Therefore, each of us must dig deeper when necessary, and trying to find the truth very important.

Sources: Born Liar, lifeclub.org, counseling.org, Washingtonpost.

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