Liar, Liar

[differenceblog]

Byrne and Corp (2004) found that neocortex size predicted deception rates among primates; that is - the bigger the neocortex, the more capable the monkeys were of deceiving other monkeys. Pakkenberg and Gundersen (1997) found that (on average), men in their Danish sample had 16% more neocortical neurons than women. Abe et al (2007) found in a PET

Comments

[plumtreeblossom]

I hate it when supposed child-behavior "experts" claim that children aren't capable of lying. As a young child, I fabricated perpetually because it was strangely powerful to make something up out of thin air and have people (sometimes) believe it. There was no malice in it, just a desire to seem more interesting than I really was. I told my whole class that I was going to Holland when in fact I was going to Harrisburg PA to visit my father. I said I knew karate but wasn't allowed to use it. Stuff like that. My brother fabricated just as much as I did, but I think he actually believed most of his lies, at the time.

It takes being caught a few significant times to stop the habit. That happened to me during the first few weeks of freshman year at college. I was weaving some completely fabricated yarn to impress a few of my new friends, and a guy I had a crush on said "You're so full of shit." He was correct, and I was humiliated. People were clearly onto it. After that, if I was making something up, people would just ignore me or talk over me. It stopped being fun.

I had an actor friend who had to go into therapy to overcome a fibbing addiction. It was a major struggle for him. I think it's more common than most people recognize.

I found fiction writing to be a positive and productive outlet for the urge to fabricate. It's really the only medium in which you're supposed to make up things that didn't really happen. You can make up anything you want, and hopefully you'll have an enjoyable and harmless product at the end. Anyone who fears they might have a fibbing problem should consider taking a fiction writing class or two.

[njyoder]

I find the general public's reaction more amusing. I remember seeing shows where these kids drew angels (or something else fantastical) and their parents insisted that the kids were too young (at least 6) to come up with a lie that "elaborte." I just lol'ed. I also remember that movie about those two girls who claimed to have found faires in the early 20th century (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote about them in his magazine)...in real life (the movie was bogus) one of them confessed when they were old and the other, in old age, insisted that ONE of the picture of fairies was real (Who would lie in their old age about that?).