Why do we lie?
Lying is something all humans do. We find it in every culture around the world. It\u2019s in the world of work, in our relationships and online. It\u2019s all pervasive and hard to escape.
Our question this week is from listener Anthony from Cambodia. He asked us to find out why we lie, and wants to know how conscious we are of the lies that we tell?
CrowdScience\u2019s Caroline Steel is in the hot seat, on a journey where she will attempt to untangle the complex story behind lying.
It\u2019s a subject scientists and psychologists have been studying for a long time. It\u2019s also something writers, philosophers and theologists have been interpreting for thousands of years. But we\u2019re only now really starting to get to grips with how it works as a human behaviour.
There are lies in our folklore, lies in the media and also lies in everyday conversation. It\u2019s something we\u2019ve all had to learn to navigate at some point in our lives. In this episode the CrowdScience team unravels the mysteries surrounding the behaviour and the art of lying.
Our journey will take us to meet the world\u2019s \u2018second best liar\u2019, an award she picked up at West Virginia\u2019s Liar Contest. We\u2019ll also meet a comedian who\u2019s proud of the down-to-earth plain honesty of Dutch people.
An academic who has studied thousands of children\u2019s brains will explain when we first start learning to lie. And we\u2019ll hear about new research using magnetic resonance imaging, commonly known as MRI scans, which is helping to show how the more we actually lie, the less our brain reacts telling us not to.
Caroline looks at how lying changes from culture to culture. Do we really all lie? And do we lie in the same way?
The surprising and intriguing answer is found in how early it develops in us as a human behaviour.
Contributors:
Prof Kang Lee, Professor in Applied Psychology and Human Development at Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto \nProf Tali Sharot, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London \nIan Leslie, journalist and author of \u2018Born Liars\u2019 \nAriana Kincaid, Champion Liar at West Virginia Liars Contest \nDerek Scott Mitchell, actor and comedian | @letsdoubledutch on Instagram \nReadings by Kitty O'Sullivan
Presenter: Caroline Steel \nProducer: Robbie Wojciechowski \nEditor: Richard Collings \nProduction Co-ordinator: Jonathan Harris \nStudio Managers: Emma Harth, Donald MacDonald, Andrew Garratt
(Photo: Young Businessman Interviews for new job. Credit: Andrew Rich/ Getty Images)