Like it or not, as humans, we are born to lie. The desire to control information and how it is shared is part of who we are and how we live our lives. In fact, our brains are designed to lie—sort of.
Our understanding of "reality" is to a large extent shaped by how our family and friends present it to us as we're growing up, something that I explain in more depth in my recent article for nydailynews.com, which you can read here.
Basically, as we get older, we build a community around ourselves containing those with whom we share the same core values, beliefs and ways of doing things—also known as culture. Our brains then sort everything from then on through a filter that only "sees" what fits that reality.
Do we lie occasionally or all the time?
Unfortunately, pretty much all the time.
As proof, a well-known study about deception and lying found that most people lie once or twice a day. Over the course of a week, both men and women lie approximately one-fifth of the time and deceive about 30% of those with whom they interact one-on-one. And according to the study, college students lie to their mothers in 50% of their conversations. That's half of the time!
