Honesty no longer seems to be the best policy with telling of lies becoming a common part

of our daily lives. A new research by a psychologist at the University of Massachusetts has revealed that most people lie in everyday conversation when they are trying to appear likable and competent.

66 "People tell a considerable number of lies in everyday conversation. It was a very surprising result. We didn't expect lying to be such a part of daily conversation",said Robert S Feldman.

The study also found that lies told by men and women differ in content,though not in quantity. 67 "Women were more likely to lie to make the person they were talking to feel good,while men lied most often to make themselves look better, "Feldman noted.

As part of the study, a group of 121 pairs of undergraduate students were recruited to participate. 68 Participants were unaware that the session was being videotaped. At the end of the session, the students were then asked to watch the video of themselves and identify any inaccuracies in what they had said during the conversation. They were encouraged to identify all lies,no matter how big or small.

Feldman said the students who participated in the study were surprised at their own results. "When they were watching themselves on videotape,people found themselves lying much more than they thought they had,"Feldman said. The lies the students told varied considerably. 69 Others were more extreme, such as falsely claiming to be the star of a rock band.

"It's so easy to lie,"Feldman said. "We teach our children to be honest,but we also tell them it's polite to pretend they like a birthday gift they've been given. 70

A. The results showed that men do not lie more than women or vice versa, but they lie in different ways.

B. Kids get a very mixed message regarding the practical aspects of lying,and it has an impact on how they behave as adults.

C. Some were relatively minor, such as agreeing with the person that they liked someone when they did not.

D. They were told that the purpose of the study was to examine how people interact when they meet someone new.

E. Anyway, the knowledge that we are all capable of lying makes it really hard to trust people when they tell you things.

F. The study,published in the Journal of Basic and Applied Social Psychology, found that 60 percent of people lied at least once during a 10-minute conversation and told an average of two to three lies.

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