This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. You're listening to Part-Time Genius,

a production of kaleidoscope and I-heart radio. Guess what, Mango? What's that, Will?

So I came across this study, and you know I love a good study, Mango, but this was from

researchers at the University of Wisconsin lacrosse.

And you know I love University of Wisconsin lacrosse.

And this is a pretty weird one.

So here's what they did.

They asked 632 people to document every single lie they told over the course of three months.

That is incredible. So what did they find out?

Well, among other things, they discovered that the number one reason people lied was to avoid others.

Oh, I mean, that kind of makes sense to me.

Yeah, it does. And the second most common reason people lied was for jokes or

pranks, which also makes sense. Like the time you told me, the CEO of Vegemite was a huge fan of the show

and Wanda Senda's a lifetime supply of Vegemite. That's a good example of a lie. But from what

you're describing, these are fairly like harmless lies, right?

So is the lesson that lying isn't necessarily so bad?

I do like that that's your conclusion.

I mean, a lesson isn't quite that simple.

Like, it's a highly complex form of social interaction that can serve many different purposes.

And so lies can range from lighthearted and funny to, of course, malicious to downright

dangerous, depending on the intention behind them.

And the cultural context, too.

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