Evolution of a Little Liar

Overheard at National Geographic

National Geographic

Science, Society & Culture

4.5 • 10.1K Ratings

🗓️ 18 June 2019

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Most parents see lying as a cause for worry or reprimand. But some experts suggest lying at a young age could be a welcome sign of childhood development. So what does lying tell us about human cognition? For more information on this episode visit nationalgeographic.com/overheard Want More? Read writer Yudhijit Bhattacharrjee's magazine story on why we lie, and what it says about us. Watch: Why science says it's good for kids to lie. Learn more about researcher Kang Lee's work. Read about Charles Darwin's report on his son, Doddy. Also explore: Do you lie more or less than the average person? Take this quiz to find out. Meet history's most notorious liars. These are the best liars of the animal world. If you like what you hear and want to support more content like this, please consider a National Geographic subscription. Go to natgeo.com/exploremore to subscribe today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Here's a quick trivia question for you.
0:01.9	What is the third law of Hamarabbi's code,
0:04.3	the 10 Commandments and US Code Title 18,
0:07.5	Section 101, all have in common?
0:11.2	They all prohibit lying.
0:13.5	And with good reason, because it turns out as humans,
0:16.7	we lie all the time.
0:19.0	There's lies that are told to avoid punishment,
0:22.4	lies that are intended to influence large numbers
0:26.4	of people to gain an unjust reward,
0:28.6	to save face, or to avoid embarrassment,
0:32.3	to make somebody else feel better.
0:35.2	Those are all different types of lying.
0:37.9	You digit by the Chargy as a contributing writer
0:40.2	here at National Geographic.
0:42.2	He has a lot to say about lies,
0:43.7	but what really caught my attention
0:45.0	was how early in life we start to tell the.
0:47.6	Children will invariably lie, and they're actually
0:52.5	going to practice the art of lying
0:56.6	from the age of two or three,
0:59.0	and they're just going to keep getting better.
	...

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