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  • I'm not going to lie, I lie all the time because I know science and science says lies are GOOD

  • for you. What's true here? Do you even know? Me either. Lies.

  • Hey there liars, Trace here for DNews. My mom always warned me about lying by telling

  • fables and stories and anecdotesbut as I get older I began to learn that little lies

  • can be good too. So what's the truth? Is lying bad or good?

  • A new study in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B[a] looked at the effects of deception

  • in social networks, and according to their research, white lies, specifically, smooth

  • the flow of interactions and facilitate a larger, more integrated social group! Basically,

  • they're saying white lies are GOOD! A study published in the Journal of Basic and Applied

  • Psychology found we lie 2.92 times every 10 minutes! That's a lot of fibbing. Kids learn

  • to deceive by 2 or 3 years old and start to manipulate their parents. 4 years olds lie

  • once every two hours, and by six it's every 90 minutes! We lie all the time!

  • A white lie, is a harmless or trivial falsification, usually told to avoid hurting someone's feelings

  • -- the researchers call this a prosocial lie; and they're the good kind. Lies told that

  • are destructive or deceptive, those are antisocial lies -- and they do the exact opposite - weakening

  • the bonds between individuals and breaking down the social structure.

  • They write in their paper, "The balance between prosocial and antisocial lies may set constraints

  • on the structure of social networks, and hence the shape of society as a whole." Lies can

  • make or break us y'all. Using mathematical models, the researchers revealed what most

  • of us already know: when an individual participates in antisocial lying they slowly isolate themselves

  • from their social group -- while pro-social liers form stronger bonds and become more

  • integrated.

  • This also extends to online social networks as well. A study at California State University,

  • Dominguez Hills // Huh. I like that name… I wonder why… // Looked at lies told on

  • facebook and found that they are just as varied as lies spoken aloud. How many times have

  • you clicked "like" without ACTUALLY liking it. Maybe you just want to support them, even

  • if you dislike the post! Rationalize away, that's white lie, sistah. Or what if you post

  • a pretty picture of your cruise, but you're seasick and you omit that from the post -- white

  • lie, brah. Whether these are pro-social white lies, or antisocial white lies depends on

  • who they're targeting. And the intent of the post

  • The Journal of Consumer Research found that even though they're beneficial to the whole,

  • white lies FEEL like lies to our brain. We KNOW we're being dishonest, so we try to fix

  • it, or make up for our dishonesty to escape cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance

  • is when your brain thinks one thing and you act differently. Like if a bad server at a

  • restaurant asks how your meal was -- usually, we lie. We save the waiters feelings and keep

  • things on an even keel! According to research into cognitive dissonance, unless the service

  • was REALLY bad, we will often tip more because we want to make up for our white lie! It's

  • silly, but it happens on a subconscious level. It's part of our evolution trying to keep

  • our social networks balanced.

  • Are you going to think about your lies as pro or anti social lies now? What's the worst

  • lie you've ever told? Tell your lies down below in the comments. I'm not going to lie

  • to you, I'm really excited about this upcoming SpaceOut with NASA JPL. We're going to hangout

  • and talk about what MSL Curiosity has been doing on Mars for one Martian Year (about

  • two Earth years). We've got one of the rover's actual drivers, project scientists, and Bobak

  • Ferdowsi -- the mohawk guy who helped get it to Mars in the first place! You should

  • RSVP with the link in the description to join us -- we're going live at 4pm Pacific on July

  • 30! COME! You wouldn't want to miss it. Thanks for watching DNews -- and please subscribe

  • for more.

I'm not going to lie, I lie all the time because I know science and science says lies are GOOD

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