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Opening Arguments

Liar, liar

This one may not be as obvious as some past nominations, but I think this is a good candidate for the "well, duh" file:

Honesty may boost your health, suggests a study that found telling fewer lies benefits people physically and mentally.

Each week for 10 weeks, 110 individuals, ages 18-71, took a lie detector test and completed health and relationship measures assessing the number of major and minor lies they told that week, says lead author Anita Kelly, a psychology professor at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. She presented findings at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, which ended Sunday.

"When they went up in their lies, their health went down," says Kelly. "When their lies went down, their health improved."

Lying causes stress for the obvious reason that you always have to remember what lie you told to whom. Just keeping all the narratives you've created straight in your head ends up consuming a major portion of your interactions with others. But there's something deeper going on, too. Those who habitually lie are too outer-directed, governed by others' opinions of them, either because they desperately want their approval or want to control them. There is much less stress in being inner-directed: I know who I am, and you can take me or leave me on those terms. I don't want to control you, and I don't need your approval, so why would I lie to you?

Comments

Harl Delos
Mon, 08/06/2012 - 12:08pm

Wonder how healthy computer salesmen are.

They used to say that the difference between a coputer salesman and a used car salesman was that a used car salesman knew he was lying.

 

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