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The truth behind the biggest liars, adolescents

When it comes to bending the truth, no one can match adolescents in terms of the frequency and proficiency with which they tell porkie pies, according to the first study into age-related dishonesty.

The study results, published in a paper entitled From Junior to Senior Pinocchio, will come as no surprise to parents accustomed to hearing their offspring mutter traditional teen fibs such as “everyone else is doing it”; “I haven’t got any homework”; or “I’m spending the night with a friend”.

Not only did the study of more than 1,000 people aged six to 77 confirm that peak dishonesty occurs in adolescence, it found that young children and pensioners are the most honest people in society. That’s because the frequency with which we lie and our ability to get away with it both increase to young adulthood then decline with age, possibly because of changes that occur in the brain.

“Our research shows that young adults are, overall, the best liars,’’ say the researchers, whose study is published in the journal Acta Psychologica. “Lying frequency increased during childhood, peaked in adolescent years, and then decreased into old age, to the point where seniors lie with similar frequency to the youngest children.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-truth-behind-the-biggest-liars-adolescents-10432818.html