So when people don't, or can't, tell the truth, we call them pathological liars. They lie to others and they lie to themselves. It's deception of the highest -- or lowest -- order.
Recently, Radiolab -- a public radio exploration of intriguing issues -- aired a program called Deception. It explained how research into lying is revealing intriguing things about the human brain.
A researcher took temp job applications from 108 people and asked them questions about their histories. She then checked into the histories and found that 12 of them had substantial discrepancies in their stories. She invited them all to come in for brain scans...and all 108 did.
She expected to find more gray matter in the brain and less so-called "white matter." The white matter is in the prefrontal cortex...the part of the brain right behind the forehead. Surely, someone who lies constantly, regularly, creatively, and often needlessly must have fewer connections with other parts of the brain. Surely, there must be something lacking. Surely, pathological liars are, in essence, brain-damaged.
That's not what she found.
She found 25% more white matter. More connections. Faster thinking. More interrelation between sections of the brain and an increased ability to put things together, fast.
She experimented and failed to find what she was after. But she found something more interesting.
Someday, when I'm an educator, I want to help my students learn that being wrong is not just OK, it's necessary and beneficial.
No lie.
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