Tag Archives | lying

Why Police Officers Lie Under Oath

By on February 7, 2013 in News 12

Police lie in court with impunity, yet juries almost always take their word over defendants’.  The New York Times writes:

In this era of mass incarceration, the police shouldn’t be trusted any more than any other witness, perhaps less so.

That may sound harsh, but numerous law enforcement officials have put the matter more bluntly. Peter Keane, a former San Francisco Police commissioner, wrote an article in The San Francisco Chronicle decrying a police culture that treats lying as the norm:

“Police officer perjury in court to justify illegal dope searches is commonplace. One of the dirty little not-so-secret secrets of the criminal justice system is undercover narcotics officers intentionally lying under oath…it is the routine way of doing business in courtrooms everywhere in America.”

The New York City Police Department is not exempt from this critique. In 2011, hundreds of drug cases were dismissed after several police officers were accused of mishandling evidence.

… Read the rest

Continue Reading · 12

Perfection in Deception?

By on December 11, 2012 in News 9

Picture: Public Domain

You, too, can be a perfect liar…with the right training. Don’t believe me? Why would I lie to you?

Via Medical News Today:

New Northwestern University research shows that lying is more malleable than previously thought, and with a certain amount of training and instruction, the art of deception can be perfected.

People generally take longer and make more mistakes when telling lies than telling the truth, because they are holding two conflicting answers in mind and suppressing the honest response, previous research has shown. Consequently, researchers in the present study investigated whether lying can be trained to be more automatic and less task demanding.

This research could have implications for law enforcement and the administering of lie detector tests to better handle deceptions in more realistic scenarios.

Researchers found that instruction alone significantly reduced reaction times associated with participants’ deceptive responses.

The researchers say that with enough training, it might also be possible to regulate the physiological cues that give away liars.… Read the rest

Continue Reading · 9

Lying Less Linked to Better Health

By on August 7, 2012 in News 6

Photo: Agence Meurisse (PD)

Via ScienceDaily:

“Recent evidence indicates that Americans average about 11 lies per week. We wanted to find out if living more honestly can actually cause better health,” said lead author Anita E. Kelly, PhD, professor of psychology at the University of Notre Dame. “We found that the participants could purposefully and dramatically reduce their everyday lies, and that in turn was associated with significantly improved health.”

Kelly and co-author Lijuan Wang, PhD, also of Notre Dame, conducted the honesty experiment over 10 weeks with a sample of 110 people, of whom 34 percent were adults in the community and 66 percent were college students. 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 and has yet to be published.

Approximately half the participants were instructed to stop telling major and minor lies for the 10 weeks.

… Read the rest

Continue Reading · 6

Company To Provide You With Fake Girlfriend On Facebook

By on April 1, 2011 in News 23

4664624124_d6880c8e49Need an imaginary girlfriend on Facebook to hide the fact that you are alone? Cloud Girlfriend will do all the legwork (a profile, photos, wall posts, conversation, etc.). I recommend making yours a marine biologist/ballet dancer who lives in Canada. AOL News reports:

That’s what startup Cloud Girlfriend promises, although your friends on Facebook will never know it. The new Internet company helps guys who aren’t ready to admit, at least online, that they don’t have a significant other.

The new service allows users to create the perfect girlfriend who will write on your Facebook wall and otherwise make her ghostly presence known through social media.

Cloud Girlfriend has yet to officially launch, but the site is already generating overwhelming interest, advising visitors to “register early to get in line.”

According to the site, signing up is easy as:

“Step 1: Define your perfect girlfriend. Step 2: We bring her into existence.

… Read the rest

Continue Reading · 23