Truth or Lies

Are people naturally honest or naturally liars?  Turns out the answer may be a bit of both.

From Seed Magazine...

What they found is that honesty is an automatic process—but only for some people. Comparing scans from tests with and without the opportunity to cheat, the scientists found that for honest subjects, deciding to be honest took no extra brain activity. But for others, the dishonest group, both deciding to lie and deciding to tell the truth required extra activity in the areas of the brain associated with critical thinking and self-control.

Their findings—that honesty is automatic for some people—is part of a growing body of work that shows that many, if not most, of our daily actions are not under our conscious control.

Greene and Paxton’s study suggests that honesty in particular is automatic only for some, which Bargh interprets to mean that some portion of the population might be naturally honest, while others struggle with telling the truth.