Lying Less Linked to Better HealthNews Flash Monday, August 6th,
2012 (Eurekalert) Telling the truth when tempted to lie can
significantly improve a person’s mental and physical health,
according to a “Science of Honesty” study presented at the
American Psychological Association’s 120th Annual Convention.
“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-comple