• Question: why do people tell lies?

    Asked by diehard to Damien, Rachael, Simon, Suzi, Tim on 16 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Simon Bennett

      Simon Bennett answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      Hello,

      I am afraid I don’t think there is any one reason, it all depends on the specific circumstances. I do know that the average human is much better at predicting whether someone is telling a lie over the phone than face to face. So the clues as to whether they are telling a lie or not is in their voice.

      Thanks.

    • Photo: Suzi Gage

      Suzi Gage answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      Hi @diehard
      Good question, it’s hard to know really.
      What Simon’s said about being able to spot a liar on the phone is really interesting. I have done experiments looking at how people’s body behaves differently when they have to say a swear word, and it’s the same when you tell a lie. You sweat more, and there are machines that can measure this and spot a liar by their skin’s reaction!

      Cool huh?

    • Photo: Rachael Ward

      Rachael Ward answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      Hi @diehard

      Interesting point about the voice from Simon – I didnt know that.

      I guess we lie because we can and it can be beneficial to us – a bit depressing really!

      One interesting thing is that its actually requires a lot of cognitive ability to lie. Some people with injuries to part of their brain (prefrontal cortex – near your forehead) loose the ability to tell lies, as do some people with neurodegerative diseases like Parkinsons Disease. This tells us that certain parts of the brain are more important in lying than others.

      I think Suzi studied psychology so might be able to help us out with this question!?

      Hope this helped.

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