Turns out, people lie every ten minutes.
But, I don't.
Hello everyone, I'm Trace and you're not watching DNews.
I swear everything from here going forward will be true.
No lies.
Lying comes naturally to many types of animals.
If you were designing a species, you might not make it possible for them to lie, but
since we weren't designed, we evolved… it's all about competitive advantage.
For example, if I'm a female nursery web spider, I want the best mate, and so do the males.
But in nursery web spider society, the males have to bring a gift to mate.
A study in BMC Evolutionary Biology found that the males wrap the gift -- usually a
dead insect -- in silk so the female doesn't know what's inside, then while the female
checks out the gift, the male gets it on with her!
Bow chicka -- WOAH WOAH.
This gift is FAKE.
That's right.
Some male spiders will bring fake gifts!
And it works!
Of the spiders studies 92-percent of the "fake gift" group still got to mate (though admittedly
not for as long, since as soon as the female spider knew what was up she scuttled away).
A 2013 study in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, says we humans lie for competitive advantage,
too.
If I successfully deceive you, and thus you think we're working together, I have a competitive
advantage.
Think about it this way, if you lie about cheating on your partner, you're still getting
cooperation from him or her.
Competitive Advantage.
If you get a gift from grandma and hate it, but pretend to like it you protect your relationship
and may get a better gift later.
Competitive Advantage!
This ain't just humans either, in primate populations with high levels of cooperation,
the researchers also found high levels of tactical deception.
Basically, we could have evolved to lie simply to trick other people into cooperating.
And, this happens All.
The.
Time.
According to a 2002 study in Basic and Applied Social Psychology people may lie as often
as two or three times in a ten minute conversation.
Considering Americans spend an hour and 45 minutes per day every day just talking, that
means we could be telling 30-some lies per day!
Now these aren't all HUGE lies -- some are just little ones, I'm sure.
Though the researchers were moot on that.
But one thing still holds this together: lies can still give us an advantage.
But even though lying is encouraged by evolution, there are consequences.
According to a study in BJ Psychiatry people who have more "deceitful personalities" tend
to have more white matter and less grey matter in their prefrontal cortex7, the part of the
brain associated with personality, and moderation of social behavior.
White matter connects parts of the brain together, so more white matter means more brain connections…
But does that mean they’re better at deception?
Or that they have some advantage?
A disadvantage in other areas?
More research is needed.
But lying as part of evolution is definitely a thing.
By age four, 90 percent of children have learned to lie.
Which might give you the sads, but it's actually a milestone of healthy development!
In Child Psychology, there's something called the "theory of mind," which is the idea that
you are independent from others, you each have your own beliefs, desires, understanding,
et cetera.
A study in Psychological Science trained three-year-olds on this Theory of Mind concept, and found
they were then more likely to lie than kids who hadn't been trained!
Walking that social tightrope of lying just enough, but not too much is tough.
Lying all the time can work, but never lying ever not at all not even once is also a great
idea.
And if you believe that, I am Iron Man.
Are you worried that we're lying to you?
That EVERYONE is lying to you?!
Maybe you should be!
Tara has some tips for you on how to spot a liar… here.
I lied to a cop once…
I ran over a sign on the school property when I slid off the road.
I told him I didn't do it.
I got in big trouble with my parents and was grounded from the car for two weeks….
But i was testing my evolutionary competitive advantage, right?
What was the biggest lie you ever told?