A
An area of scientific study that caught the public imagination during the 1970s involved a gorilla called Koko. Animal psychologist Francine Patterson claimed to have taught Koko a simplified form of American Sign Language, and through signing, Koko could apparently communicate basic ideas such as ‘food’ and ‘more’, as well as concepts such as ‘good’ and ‘sorry’. But Koko also used signs to blame other people for damage she had caused herself. While today there is some dispute about whether Koko truly understood the meaning of all the signs she made, Professor Karen Goodger believes she was certainly capable of dishonesty. ‘People use words to lie, but for animals with higher brain functions, there’s also a higher probability that they’ll demonstrate manipulative behaviours. We see this not just in gorillas, but in other creatures with a large neocortex.’
B
Human societies may appear to disapprove of lying, but that doesn’t mean we don’t all do it. And it seems that the ability, or at least the desire to deceive, starts from an early age. In one study run by psychologist Kang Lee, children were individually brought into a laboratory and asked to face a wall. They were asked to guess what toy one of Lee’s fellow researchers had placed on a table behind them – for example, a fluffy cat or dog. The researcher would then announce they had to leave the lab to take a phone call, reminding the child not to turn around. The research team were well aware that many children would be unable to resist peeking at the toy. Secret cameras showed that 30% of two-year-old children lied about not looking. This went up to 50% for three-year-olds and almost 80% of eight-year-olds. Interestingly, whereas the younger children simply named the toy and denied taking a peek, the older ones came up with some interesting reasons to explain how they had identified the toy correctly. Lee is reassured by this trend, seeing it as evidence in each case that the cognitive growth of a human child is progressing as it should. Parents, of course, may not be so pleased.
C
Adults, however, can hardly criticise children. According to Professor Richard Wiseman, it appears that adults typically tell two major lies per day, and that one third of adult conversations contain an element of dishonesty. Other research indicates that spouses lie in one out of every 10 interactions. This probably comes as no surprise to Tali Sharot at University College London, who has run a series of experiments proving we become desensitised to lying over time. She has found that while we might initially experience a sense of shame about small lies, this feeling eventually wears off. The result, Sharot has found, is that we progress to more serious ones.
D
Other researchers, including Tim Levine at the University of Alabama, have analysed our motives for lying. By far the most common is our desire to cover up our own wrongdoing. Second to this are lies we tell to gain economic advantage – we might lie during an interview to increase the chances of getting a job. Interestingly, ‘white lies’, the kind we tell to avoid hurting people’s feelings, account only for a small percentage of our untruths. But if we recognise our own tendency to lie, why don’t we recognise it in others? Professor Goodger thinks it has something to do with our strong desire for certain information we hear to be true, even when we might suspect it isn’t. This is because we might be ‘comforted by others’ lies or excited by the promise of a good outcome’, Goodger says.
E
We might not expect ordinary people to be good at recognising lies, but what about people whose job it is to investigate the behaviour of others? Paul Ekman is a psychologist from the University of California. As part of his research into deception, he has invited a range of experts to view videos of people telling lies and of others telling the truth. Among the experts have been judges, psychiatrists and people who operate polygraph machines for police investigations. None of these experts have shown they can detect dishonesty any better than people without their experience. Part of the problem is that so many myths still prevail about ‘give-away signs’ indicating that someone is lying.
F
A common claim, for example, is that liars won’t look people in the eye during their explanations or while being questioned. Another is that they are likely to gesture as they tell their story, but so frequently that it seems unnatural – as if they are trying to convince others of their sincerity. However, many researchers have come to reject these ideas, suggesting a more effective approach is to listen to their narration style. A difficulty that liars face is having to remember exactly what they said, which is why they don’t provide as many details as a person giving an honest account would. It is also typical of liars to mentally rehearse their story, and this is why one stage follows another in apparently chronological fashion. Honest stories, however, feature revisions and repetition. Recent research has also disproved the widely believed notion that liars have a habit of fidgeting in their seats. Rather, it seems that they keep still, especially in the upper body, possibly hoping to give the impression of self-assurance. Liars also put some psychological distance between themselves and their lies. For that reason, they avoid the use of ‘I’ when narrating their stories. The reverse is true, however, when people write fake reviews of, say, a hotel or restaurant. In these instances, ‘I’ features again and again as they attempt to convince us that their experience was real.
