by Cathy Manson

How can you tell if someones lying？ The answer is， theyre probably not.

Traditional economics[經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)] says that people are rational beings who will lie if its to their advantage. A recent university study has shown that， actually， were pretty honest—especially when were at home.

Researchers in Germany phoned people at home and asked them to toss a coin. There was a strong financial incentive to fake the result： if the coin landed tails-up， the participant[參與者] would receive money or a gift voucher[禮券]， while if the coin landed heads-up， they would get nothing. Because they were on the phone， they knew there was no risk of getting caught if they lied.

And yet people told the truth. Over hundreds of tosses a coin will land tails-up roughly 50% of the time. In this study， over half the people asked （55.6%） said that the coin landed heads-up， which meant they would receive nothing.

Previous studies had found that people were more deceitful. In those laboratory studies， 75% of people reported a winning coin and claimed a reward. So the research team thinks its being in our own homes which makes us play fair， although its not yet clear why.

In fact both types of study show people are surprisingly trustworthy. Even in the laboratory， 25% of people turned down a reward by telling the truth. The researchers say this is because honesty is highly valued in human society. We care about our reputation[名譽(yù)] and our sense of ourselves as decent people. So lying has a psychological[心理上的] cost and it seems this cost outweighs the financial benefits of lying.

你如何看出某個(gè)人有沒有撒謊？答案是——他們也許沒有撒謊呢。

傳統(tǒng)經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)認(rèn)為人類是理智的動(dòng)物——如果對自己有利，他們就會撒謊。而最近一項(xiàng)大學(xué)研究顯示，我們其實(shí)挺誠實(shí)的——特別是在家的時(shí)候。

德國的研究人員往人們家里打電話，并叫他們拋硬幣（猜正反面）。這個(gè)實(shí)驗(yàn)設(shè)下了很豐厚的金錢獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)，誘惑人們謊報(bào)結(jié)果：如果硬幣落地后背面朝上，受訪者將得到金錢或禮券獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)；如果硬幣正面朝上，受訪者則一無所獲。由于受訪者是在使用電話，所以他們知道即使撒謊也沒有被發(fā)現(xiàn)的危險(xiǎn)。

然而人們還是說了實(shí)話。在幾百次的拋硬幣當(dāng)中，背面朝上的幾率約為50%。在這項(xiàng)研究里，超過一半的受訪者（55.6%）說硬幣正面朝上，也意味著他們將得不到獎(jiǎng)品。

過去的一些研究發(fā)現(xiàn)人們在以前比現(xiàn)在更容易撒謊。在那些實(shí)驗(yàn)室進(jìn)行的研究中，75%的人說拋贏了，要拿獎(jiǎng)品。因此，研究小組認(rèn)為是家的環(huán)境令我們公平行事，盡管原因未明。

事實(shí)上，兩種類型的研究都顯示了人們出乎意料地可靠。即使是在實(shí)驗(yàn)室里，也有25%的人說了實(shí)話而不要獎(jiǎng)品。研究人員說，這是因?yàn)樵谌祟惿鐣?，誠實(shí)受到高度重視。我們在乎自己的聲譽(yù)，和作為一個(gè)正派的人的自尊感。因此，撒謊要付出心理成本，而這種成本似乎比撒謊所帶來的金錢收益要大。

Quiz小測驗(yàn)

閱讀短文并回答問題。

1. According to traditional economics， when do people lie？

2. Did researchers visit people in their homes？

3. What happened if they said the coin landed tails-up？

4. Were people more honest in laboratory studies or in their own homes？

5. According to the researchers， what is highly valued in society？