in answer to the original question:
i believe, from my own personal interactions with both men and women for 5 decades, that women are better liars than men.
which is why i distrust more what women say than men because the latter's attempts at lying is easier to detect.
and when not raised by wolves, i was raised by a single mother or each of my grandmother's for most of my formative years, and boy oh, boy, could they be deceptive.
on the other hand, i never, ever saw my father lie.
kuvasz, can't read your post. yellow doesn't show too well
Interesting. I think Beth brought up an important point in that the study didn't seem to discuss who lied more, just who lied more effectively.
If it turned out that women really did lie more, I think that society has a major part in the reason. Women have not had much power in relationships until the past few years. Before, they often had to cover up things they did, even innocent actions such as buying an extra pair of shoes.
I remember my mother doing this type of thing. My father was always the decision maker and he wasn't always reasonable in his demands. Lying became a survival mechanism for my mother. She was meticulous and a careful planner, only because she had to be in order to avoid a very unpleasant reaction from my father.
I think this has been typical throughout history, in my opinion.
Well said, Diane. Being a better liar doesn't mean women lie more often, just that they plan more carefully. I'll bet if they did a survey on which sex gets caught more often, the men would come out on top.
Can you catch a Liar???
A new study published in the May 1999 issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the American Psychological Society, shows that though most people are not very good at catching a liar in the act, there are behavioral cues that can be utilized to make accurate judgments of deception.
Diane- I am so glad that you brought up that point. When I looked at the thread quickly, at first, I thought that it was postulating that women lie more. Then I read it again.
I think that you are so very right. When I was a girl, women had little direct power. They learned to get what they wanted through stealth and subterfuge.
When I was a teen, I remember articles on dating where a young girl was advised that she should NEVER show her boyfriend that she was smarter than him. In any sort of contest between the two of them, she should always let HIM win.
Hopefully, today's young men and women have gotten beyond this kind of behavior, which only encourages lying and cheating. What say you, younger members of A2K?
chatoyant wrote:Well said, Diane. Being a better liar doesn't mean women lie more often, just that they plan more carefully. I'll bet if they did a survey on which sex gets caught more often, the men would come out on top.
Chatoyant, the study only determined that women, generally, speak more fluently. They were not determined to be better planners. As several previous posters have pointed out (and as the study did as well), language development in females is generally faster. We may just be more practiced, thus fluent, speakers. I'm sure the research in this area is continuing.
:wink:
