lovesouthernsocial.com

People's behavior when they lie and cheat is a research topic at the University of Washington

Who has never heard the story of Pinocchio and the moral lesson it contains when it comes to lies? Or, the fable of the rabbit and the hare and the question of cheating? These stories that populated many people's childhoods actually illustrate two of the many characteristics of the human behavior: lying and cheating.

And these were precisely the two characteristics addressed by a study published by the American Psychological Association with the aim of verifying the liar's behavior when cheating and lying and what are the motivational circumstances involved.

The ends justifying the means

According to the study coordinated by Professor Nicole E. Ruedy of the University of Washington, people who lie and do not directly harm others, or at least believe they have not directly harmed others, tend to feel optimistic rather than regretful.

The survey participants, more than a thousand people from the United States and England, before taking the tests, admitted that they would feel bad if they cheated in the proposed activities.

The proposed activities were logic and math tests that had to be solved in a certain period of time on the computer. On the test screen there was a button with test answers and participants were instructed not to click on the button to view the answers. Of course, the researchers had a way of visualizing who had used the button and who hadn't.

Research participants were also promised a reward for completing the tests, which, according to the researchers, is a motivational factor for lying. Furthermore, the satisfaction of having been able to finish the tests, no matter what the means used to do so, can also be considered a strong motivational factor. Thus, it was found that those involved in the research who cheated, 68% of the total participants, demonstrated well-being and pleasure.

According to Professor Ruedy, this can be called cheaters high (or “cheat drunkenness”) and can be understood as follows: when people do something wrong specifically to harm someone, such as giving an electric shock, the reaction found in research previous was that they feel bad about their behavior. Already in that study, it was revealed that people can actually feel satisfaction after doing something unethical, as long as no one is directly harmed.

In these terms, it is possible to conclude that it is not the unethical act itself that determines whether the person will feel remorse, pleasure, guilt or satisfaction. But yes, what is the relationship, direct or indirect, that this act has with other people who are eventually involved. And it's good to be clear that this doesn't necessarily have to do with reality. A person may feel that he is not harming others and in fact he is, or vice versa.

The head of lying and cheating

Although, as a rule, people are capable of lying and cheating, it is not evident that this ability can be converted into detection of lies or cheating. The percentage of correct answers of a person who tries to guess if he is being deceived or not, doesn't even reach the 50% mark, according to studies.

Another interesting fact regarding the subject concerns the functioning of the brain of the one who is lying or cheating. In theory, there is a tendency of the human brain to tell the truth instead of lying, perhaps because lying is an activity that requires more brain activity than telling the truth. Research based on neuroimaging techniques has shown that the practice of lying and cheating counteracts this tendency. Also, the brain is more active when we are lying and cheating.

This activity is more intense especially in the prefrontal cortex, which indicates that lying and cheating require greater self-control and even creativity, since making up stories and looking for ways out requires this type of skill.