<p>If you think a few lies will not harm anyone, think again!Researchers at the University of Notre Dame claim that telling the truth when tempted to lie can significantly improve a person’s mental and physical health.<br /><br /></p>.<p>“We found that the participants could purposefully and dramatically reduce their everyday lies, and that in turn was associated with significantly improved health,” lead author Anita E Kelly said.<br /><br />Researchers conducted the honesty experiment over 10 weeks with a sample of 110 people, of whom 34 per cent were adults in the community and 66 per cent were college students.<br /><br />They ranged in age from 18 to 71 years, with an average age of 31. The just-completed study has not yet undergone peer review.<br /><br />Approximately half the participants were instructed to stop telling major and minor lies for the 10 weeks. The other half served as a control group that received no special instructions about lying.<br /><br />Both the groups underwent a polygraph test assessing the number of major and white lies they had told in that one week.<br /><br />Over the course of 10 weeks, the link between less lying and improved health was significantly stronger for participants in the no-lie group, the study found.<br /><br />In weeks when participants told fewer lies, they reported that their close personal relationships had improved and that their social interactions overall had gone more smoothly that week, the study revealed.<br /><br />“Statistical analyses showed that this improvement in relationships significantly accounted for the improvement in health that was associated with less lying,” statistician Wang noted.<br /><br />The study sample was 63 per cent women. Annual family income for the participants was fairly evenly distributed over a range of less than USD 25,000 to more than USD 160,000.<br /><br />The findings of this study Science of Honesty was presented at the American Psychological Association.<br /></p>
<p>If you think a few lies will not harm anyone, think again!Researchers at the University of Notre Dame claim that telling the truth when tempted to lie can significantly improve a person’s mental and physical health.<br /><br /></p>.<p>“We found that the participants could purposefully and dramatically reduce their everyday lies, and that in turn was associated with significantly improved health,” lead author Anita E Kelly said.<br /><br />Researchers conducted the honesty experiment over 10 weeks with a sample of 110 people, of whom 34 per cent were adults in the community and 66 per cent were college students.<br /><br />They ranged in age from 18 to 71 years, with an average age of 31. The just-completed study has not yet undergone peer review.<br /><br />Approximately half the participants were instructed to stop telling major and minor lies for the 10 weeks. The other half served as a control group that received no special instructions about lying.<br /><br />Both the groups underwent a polygraph test assessing the number of major and white lies they had told in that one week.<br /><br />Over the course of 10 weeks, the link between less lying and improved health was significantly stronger for participants in the no-lie group, the study found.<br /><br />In weeks when participants told fewer lies, they reported that their close personal relationships had improved and that their social interactions overall had gone more smoothly that week, the study revealed.<br /><br />“Statistical analyses showed that this improvement in relationships significantly accounted for the improvement in health that was associated with less lying,” statistician Wang noted.<br /><br />The study sample was 63 per cent women. Annual family income for the participants was fairly evenly distributed over a range of less than USD 25,000 to more than USD 160,000.<br /><br />The findings of this study Science of Honesty was presented at the American Psychological Association.<br /></p>