Neuroscience
Telling lies about our past successes can sometimes be self-fulfilling, at least when it come to exam performance. That's according to the New York Times, which reports on studies by Richard Gramzow at the University of Southampton and colleagues.
Their research has shown that, when asked, many students exaggerate their past exam performance, and that those students who do this tend to go on to perform better in the future.
What's more, a study published in February (rtf doc) showed that when these exaggerators are interviewed about their past academic performance, they don't show any of the physiological hallmarks associated with lying, but rather their bodies stay calm. It's almost as though this is a different kind of lying, aimed more at the self, with the hope of encouraging improved future performance.
As the New York Times says:
Link to rtf of study showing that students stay calm when exaggerating.
Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
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With their wide eyes and innocent hearts, you might think it's easy to tell when a child is lying. Oh no it isn't. Not according to Leif Stromwall and colleagues, who found adults were useless at detecting when children were lying. Thirty children...
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- "liar, Liar, White Matter On Fire!" ?
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Neuroscience
A positive kind of lying?
Telling lies about our past successes can sometimes be self-fulfilling, at least when it come to exam performance. That's according to the New York Times, which reports on studies by Richard Gramzow at the University of Southampton and colleagues.
Their research has shown that, when asked, many students exaggerate their past exam performance, and that those students who do this tend to go on to perform better in the future.
What's more, a study published in February (rtf doc) showed that when these exaggerators are interviewed about their past academic performance, they don't show any of the physiological hallmarks associated with lying, but rather their bodies stay calm. It's almost as though this is a different kind of lying, aimed more at the self, with the hope of encouraging improved future performance.
As the New York Times says:
"...such exaggeration is very different psychologically from other forms of truth twisting. Touching up scenes or past performances induces none of the anxiety that lying or keeping secrets does, these studies find; and embroiderers often work to live up to the enhanced self-images they project. The findings imply that some kinds of deception are aimed more at the deceiver than at the audience, and they may help in distinguishing braggarts and posers from those who are expressing personal aspirations, however clumsily."Link to New York Times report
Link to rtf of study showing that students stay calm when exaggerating.
Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
- How Do Lying Skill And Frequency Change Through Life, From Childhood To Old Age?
Young adults – defined here as people aged 18 to 29 – are the most skilled liars, while teens are the most prolific. That's according to a new study published in Acta Psychologica that claims to be the first ever to investigate lying behaviour...
- Gender Stereotypes Can Distort Our Memories
Plenty of research has shown that some stereotypes are not only offensive, they can also have a detrimental effect on people's behaviour. For example, women's maths performance suffers after they are reminded of the stereotype that men are better...
- Adults Are Unable To Tell When Children Are Lying
With their wide eyes and innocent hearts, you might think it's easy to tell when a child is lying. Oh no it isn't. Not according to Leif Stromwall and colleagues, who found adults were useless at detecting when children were lying. Thirty children...
- Would I Lie To You Yet Again?
The Deception Blog alerts our attention to yet another breathless and swooning report on reading the fMRI tea leaves of lie detection in their post, More fMRI stuff and nonsense. The ABC report says virtually nothing specific about what purportedly happens...
- "liar, Liar, White Matter On Fire!" ?
I'm looking forward to reading this paper, to see how well the details mesh with this media account. For example, one has to look carefully are how subjects were labelled as "compulsive liars" and whether other behavioral characteristics might account...