Liar, Liar: How the Brain Adapts to Telling Tall Tales
This article by Simon Makin talks about a phenomena with lying. They found with their own study that the more you lie, the easier it becomes. They conducted a study with 80 people, and these 80 people were paired up and one partner was shown a picture of a jar of jellybeans and the other partner was shown a smaller picture of the same jar, and they both had to guess the amount of jelly beans, and the partner who was shown the smaller picture could receive hints or helpful tips with his estimate from the other partner. The only communication they had was through a computer. The researchers would then tell them different things that would change the scenario. That if the one partner got the other person to guess wildly higher than it actually was, he would benefit. But if he got him close to the right answer, his partner would benefit. There were then numerous different situations in which one would benefit over the other, they would both benefit, or none of them would benefit. They concluded that self interest, and when it benefited both parties is when lying was deemed more “okay” to the participants. They also had 25 of the participants do the experiment when under an MRI. They found by doing that, that the amygdala, a part of the brain that deals with responding to and processing emotion, would activate very highly after the first lie, and then slowly diminish as the lies carried on. The more people lied, the less emotion they had towards it. The same with looking at horrible pictures, seeing dead bodies, listening to bad music— after the first time, if you consistently do it, your brain was found to become more and more numb to it. In other words, you get used to it. And the more you get used to it, the more danger you’re in. Becoming numb to telling lies can start a slippery slope snowball effect and more often than not once people get used to telling small lies here and there, it can turn into really detrimental situations and consequences. In the article they tell of a man who started from small harmless lies and ended up going to prison for fraud and stealing millions upon millions of dollars. It’s fascinating to me how quickly our brains can get used to doing bad things. I think that this could also be the reason for addictions as well. Even after lying the first time, the brain got used to it. Some addiction cases were found to be exactly like that. After the second time, not only are you getting used to whatever you’re doing, it’s numbing your emotions to try to tell you that what you’re doing isn’t wrong. Even the smallest things that you think are harmless could do a lot of damage.
-Haley Bechthold
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ReplyDeleteI actually found this post interesting. I recently gave a few speeches on Porn addiction and how it's just like drug addiction. As I was reading your blog post, I thought that the patterns you see in Liars is the same pattern you see in any other kind of addict. Your brain gets used to the natural chemicals it releases and eventually builds up tolerance and they don't stop. I never thought about lying in that way.
ReplyDelete-A.G
Could this be viewed as an evolutionary advantage? Humans see bad things all the time, just in the process of our everyday lives. war, famine, racism... we seem to be able to numb ourselves to these rather eaily as well. if the brain didnt have that "emergency dump" feature, we wouldnt be able to move on with our lives after a traumatic experience.
ReplyDelete-a. Wardell
It was very interesting to learn from your post how our brain can accustom to us telling lies, whether they are "beneficial" or not. I also like how you talked about the fact that as one becomes accustomed to lying (and as well as in many other things in life), our brains tends to become numb to the whole situation.
ReplyDelete-j.a.
I never thought about lying in the same sense as someone who is an addict either but it does make sense. Did the article talk about the chemicals in the brain that are released causing it to become easier for that person to lie?-D.B.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very thought-provoking blog post. I remember learning in psychology one time, that the brain creates "pathways", if you will, that can be strengthened the more time you use that pathway. So lying, for example, would only become easier to do the more often you do it. It can take a really long time to try and re-wire these pathways that your brain makes. C.W.
ReplyDeleteThat is very interesting that this is supported by an MRI test as well. That is a very scary thought that people can become completely numb to lying and doing bad things. I think that is just another reason why telling little "white lies" is still a big deal. Because if little lies become not a big deal, who knows how long till huge lies are perfectly fine as well. This post also made me do some self evaluation. Thanks for posting! -Chad B
ReplyDeleteCould this be the reason why standards for mainstream media have decreased so much? are the critics getting too accustomed to violence so that even though the media is getting worse, it is not seen that way? KH
ReplyDeleteThis post is really interesting. I have always understood that the more you do something, the easier it becomes for you, but I never thought of it in this sense. Understanding how quickly these patterns can be made definitely makes you think twice about some of the things that you do.
ReplyDelete-Mindy C.
I think that your statements at the end about addictions was interesting. I think lying has the same affect has a drug the more you take it the bigger dose you need to achieve the same high. I wonder if a lying addiction affects the same part of the brain that a drug addiction does.
ReplyDeleteT Anderson
It is an addiction. Being a compulsive liar isn't just a character flaw, it's a disorder. I found it alarming how the brain first reacts to lying with a lot of gusto in the amygdala, but then the reaction becomes stifled as time goes on.
ReplyDeleteHW
The idea that telling a lie or looking at something you get used to it. Just from seeing something or doing something you get used to it is a fascination discovery. The more research on this idea could increase we way we look at action to things and find ways to help people more regularly.
ReplyDeleteHS
This article makes complete sense. I always wondered why people would tell lies all the time and it is because their emotions will decrease with each time they tell the lie. They feel less and less guilty as they continue to lie. -EH
ReplyDeleteThe amygdala is a a process related to fear this means that in your article the first lie for the participants in the study was the scariest one or they had fear of some sort like judgment etc. but as they kept lying they got comfortable and could even do it more often.
ReplyDeleteSteph S.