謊言，竟能改變大腦！

每個人都曾經做過這種事，即使我們知道它是錯的。

But here's the problem with lying: Research shows that the more you lie, the easier it gets, and the more likely you are to do it again.

但這就是撒謊的問題：研究表明，撒謊越多，你就更加容易再次撒謊。

"The dangerous thing about lying is people don't understand how the act changes us," said Dan Ariely, behavioral psychologist at Duke.

“說謊的危險之處在于，人們不明白這種行為會如何改變我們。”杜克大學的行為心理學家Dan Ariely說。

Lying is in the news this week after President Trump's longtime lawyer testified that Trump had directed him to pay hush money to a porn star named Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 election. The courtroom admission not only implicated Trump in a crime, it also exposed months of denials by Trump and his aides as lies.

在特朗普總統(tǒng)的長期律師作證說，特朗普指示他在2016年大選之前向一位名為Stormy Daniels的色情明星支付封口費之后，法庭上的證言不僅使特朗普深陷違法指控中，還暴露了特朗普和他的助手幾個月來始終堅持的謊言。

Psychologists have documented children lying as early as age 2. Some experts even consider lying a developmental milestone, like crawling and walking, because it requires sophisticated planning, attention and the ability to see a situation from someone else's perspective to effectively manipulate them.

心理學家發(fā)現(xiàn)，早在2歲時，兒童就會說謊。一些專家甚至考慮將其視作心智發(fā)展的一個里程碑，就像第一次爬行和行走，因為它需要復雜的計劃、注意力以及從他人的角度看待事情以有效操縱他人的能力。

But for most people, lying gets limited as we develop a sense of morality and the ability to self-regulate.

但是對于大多數(shù)人來說，隨著道德感和自律能力的建立，我們不再隨隨便便說謊。

A 2010 study on the prevalence of lying in America found that in a given 24-hour period, most adults reported not telling any lies.

2010年的一項調查發(fā)現(xiàn)，在給定的24的小時內，大多數(shù)成年人報告稱自己沒有說謊的行為。

Almost half the lies recorded in the study could be attributed to just 5 percent of participants. And most people avoided lying when they could, turning to deception only when the truth was troublesome.

研究記錄中幾乎有一半的謊言可歸因于僅占5%的參與者。大多數(shù)人在有選擇的時候會避免撒謊，只有在真相很麻煩時才會選擇欺騙。

Harvard cognitive neuroscientist Joshua Greene said for most of us, lying takes work. In studies, he presented study subjects with a chance to deceive for monetary gain while examining their brains in a functional MRI machine, which maps blood flow to active parts of the brain.

哈佛的認知神經科學家Joshua Greene指出，對我們大多數(shù)人說，撒謊不是一件輕松的事情。在研究中，他給研究對象選擇的機會，可以通過欺騙獲得金錢;

Some people told the truth instantly and instinctively. But others opted to lie, and they showed increased activity in their frontal parietal control network, which is involved in difficult or complex thinking.

有些人立即本能地說出真相。但其他人選擇撒謊，他們的額葉頂葉控制網(wǎng)絡活動增加，這一區(qū)域和困難或復雜的思維過程有關。

This suggests that they were deciding between truth and dishonesty — and ultimately opting for the latter.

這表明他們在真相與不誠實之間作出了決定，最終選擇了后者。

For a follow-up analysis, he found that people whose neural reward centers were more active when they won money were also more likely to be among the group of liars — suggesting that lying may have to do with the inability to resist temptation.

后續(xù)分析發(fā)現(xiàn)，那些神經獎勵中心在獲取收益時更為活躍的人也更有可能成為騙子——這表明撒謊可能與無法抗拒誘惑有關。

Scientists don't really know what prevents all of us from lying all the time. Some believe truth-telling is a social norm we internalize, or a result of conflict in our brains between the things we want and the positive vision of ourselves we strive to maintain.

科學家們并不知道是什么阻止我們所有人選擇欺騙。有些人認為說實話是我們社會規(guī)范內化的結果，或者是我們大腦想要的事物與我們努力維持的積極愿景之間抗爭后的結果。

But the curious thing about this preventive mechanism is that it comes from within.

但這種預防機制的奇怪之處在于它來自內部。

"We are our own judges about our own honesty," said Ariely, the Duke psychologist. "And that internal judge is what differentiate psychopaths and non psychopaths."

“我們自己對自己誠實的評判，”杜克大學心理學家Ariely說， “這位內部法官就是區(qū)分精神病患者和非精神病患者的主要特征。”

External conditions also matter in terms of when and how often we lie.

外部條件主要對撒謊的時間和頻率方面產生影響。

We are more likely to lie, research shows, when we are able to rationalize it, when we are stressed and fatigued, or when we see others being dishonest. And we are less likely to lie when we have moral reminders or when we think others are watching.

研究表明，當我們能夠合理化謊言的時候，當我們感到壓力和疲憊的時候，或者當我們看到別人不誠實的時時候，我們更有可能撒謊。當我們有道德提醒或我們認為有旁觀者時，我們不太可能選擇撒謊。

"We as society need to understand that when we don't punish lying, we increase the probability it will happen again," Ariely said.

“每個社會成員都需要明白，如果我們不懲罰說謊者，謊言的數(shù)量就會增加。”Ariely說。

In a 2016 study in the journal Nature Neuroscience, Ariely and colleagues showed how dishonesty alters people's brains, making it easier to tell lies in the future.

在2016年《自然神經科學》上的一篇論文中，Ariely及其同事展示了不誠實如何改變人們的大腦，使得在他們未來更容易說謊。

When people uttered a falsehood, the scientists noticed a burst of activity in their amygdala. The amygdala is a crucial part of the brain that produces fear, anxiety and emotional responses — including that sinking, guilty feeling you get when you lie.

當人們說出謊言時，科學家注意到他們的杏仁核中出現(xiàn)了一系列活動。杏仁核是大腦中產生恐懼、焦慮和情緒反應的關鍵部分——包括你撒謊時沮喪和內疚的感覺。

But when scientists had their subjects play a game in which they won money by deceiving their partner, they noticed the negative signals from the amygdala began to decrease.

但是當讓他們參與通過欺詐贏得金錢的游戲時，科學家注意到，他們杏仁核的負面信號開始減少。

Not only that, but when people faced no consequences for dishonesty, their falsehoods tended to get even more sensational.

不僅如此，當人們發(fā)現(xiàn)不誠實行為沒有任何后果時，他們的謊言往往變得更加聳人聽聞。

"If you give people multiple opportunities to lie for their own benefit," said Tali Sharot, a cognitive neuroscientist at University College London who led the research, "they start with little lies and get bigger and bigger over time."

“如果你給人們機會讓他們出于自己的利益而撒謊，”領導這項研究的倫敦大學學院的認知神經科學家Tali Sharot說，“他們會從無關緊要的謊言開始，隨著時間的推移，越來越大，變成彌天大謊。”