honesty is the best policy?

[otcartsid]

Do you think it's true that people are more honest when they are tired? If this is true does this mean that it takes energy to lie? put up a front, etc?

[Buffy]

Yes, its why sleep deprivation works in interrogation. It does use more energy, so its actually good for inducing weight loss! Ever notice how the most evil people are mostly thin? Exceptions are true sociopaths like Jabba the Hut who love to lie and have no trouble doing it.

Now none of this is really related to your subject line: Polite lies are a good thing. If I were to ask you "does this dress make me look fat?" you would be best to say "no of course not!" White lies are actually a form of good manners, but of course must be handled delicately....

Prevaricatingly,
Buffy

[otcartsid]

Interesting reply, Buffy!
I've never noticed that most evil people are thin! I will have to watch out for it

[lindagarrette]

Originally Posted by otcartsid

Do you think it's true that people are more honest when they are tired? If this is true does this mean that it takes energy to lie? put up a front, etc?

Drugs like sodium pentathol work to sedate the mind so it's more difficult to fabricate or recall a fabrication.

"What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive" Marmion, Sir Walter Scott

[otcartsid]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_thiopental
ah the truth serum! So it does seem that there is evidence to prove that unconsciousness can lead to the truth.

[lindagarrette]

Originally Posted by otcartsid

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_thiopental
ah the truth serum! So it does seem that there is evidence to prove that unconsciousness can lead to the truth.

No. its just easier to concoct a coherent story sober.

[TheBigDog]

Originally Posted by Buffy

If I were to ask you "does this dress make me look fat?" you would be best to say "no of course not!"

You mean you are not supposed to say "It has nothing to do with the dress."

Yes, it is harder to lie when you are tired. The real answer to a question is always the easiest to give. Your brain tries to answer questions correctly, when it does not you are considered "mentally ill". To reject the truth and think up a lie means you have to stop, think and act - thus energy. The truth is simply a reflex.

Some people lie pathologically. This is because they have been conditioned to avoid the truth. There are many reasons for this, but they become very efficient liers becasue they practice it constantly and it becomes a habit. With those people it can be more difficult to tell the truth than to lie because they build a dependancy on the process of lying. It is very tricky. But they are the exception to the rule.

Bill

[Tarantism]

usually i can tell when people are being dishnest to me simply by looking them in the eyes. sometimes, if somebody is lying to you and you look them directly in the eyes they cannot look in yours, or they turn away or smile, or any combination of the latter. its all about the energy that we give off, and someone has the really control their energy to decieve someone who looks them directly in the eyes.

[HydrogenBond]

Truth is educational and lying is entertainment.

[InfiniteNow]

Originally Posted by TheBigDog

You mean you are not supposed to say "It has nothing to do with the dress."

That was exactly what I was thinking as I read Buffy's post... well, that and "Sarah Michelle Gellar must do a heck of a lot of lying!"

Originally Posted by TheBigDog

Yes, it is harder to lie when you are tired. The real answer to a question is always the easiest to give. Your brain tries to answer questions correctly, when it does not you are considered "mentally ill". To reject the truth and think up a lie means you have to stop, think and act - thus energy. The truth is simply a reflex.

That, and lying requires higher executive function, primarily a controlling input from the pre-frontal cortex (that's where we do math and such). As we get more and more fatigued, only the areas that truly require energy receive it (aka, survival functions and inner brain regulatory stuff). As the energy supply to the brain diminishes, it's the higher levels of cortex that get shut off first. Same as when there is substantial injury or trauma. The body focusses all it's energy to breathing and pumping blood since there's not a whole lot of need to ask what infinity x zero is when you're trying to heal a significant wound or trauma. This is all an evolved mechanism...those who had it survived, and it translates to fatigue the same way.

Lying, for those who know they are lying, also creates what's called dissonance in the mind, generally something we try to avoid (like hunger). Cognitive dissonance is not generally applied in this context though.