It’s something we all do, lying. Approximately twice a day. But why do we lie? According to Sophie van der Zee, Assistant Professor in the department of Applied Economics at Erasmus School of Economics, lying is a way to give a wrong impression to someone else while knowing it isn’t right.
Van der Zee states that men and women lie for different reasons. Men tell egoistic lies, to make a better appearance or to get out of something. Women on the other hand tell more social lies. They tend to lie more for someone else, to be liked or not to hurt anyone.
Of all people adolescents lie the most, with a peak while being a student. After that we slowly learn to obey the biblical commandment ‘thou shalt not lie’.
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Various media paid attention to the research of Sophie van der Zee:
- The article of Algemeen Dagblad, 8 September 2019, can be downloaded above (in Dutch).
- Read the article of Flair, September 2019 (in Dutch).
- Read the article of Margriet, 12 September 2019 (in Dutch).
- Read the article of Het Laatste Nieuws, 11 September (in Dutch).
Read more about Sophie van der Zee here.