首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
We learn to lie when we are children, discovering as we get older and as our awareness of self and others grows what we can and
We learn to lie when we are children, discovering as we get older and as our awareness of self and others grows what we can and
admin
2011-02-05
63
问题
We learn to lie when we are children, discovering as we get older and as our awareness of self and others grows what we can and can’t get away with. Come on, admit it. we’ve all been guilty of blaming a lack of homework on the unfortunate eating habits of the family dog. Child psychologist Jean Piaget, in his study of moral development, says that "the tendency to tell lies is a natural tendency ... spontaneous and universal." It seems that to lie is to be human.
The Evolution of Lying
As humans, we communicate with each other via various verbal and non-verbal signals such as spoken language, facial expressions, and body gestures. But our ability to communicate is enhanced by our understanding of what is going through someone else’s mind—our capacity to empathize with each other.
Not all living things on this earth have the ability to empathize. Although animal psychologists may protest, evidence of empathy has really only been witnessed in higher primates that means chimps, gorillas, you and me.
This ability to empathize is a product of being able to recognize other minds as separate from your own—something that you are able to do after about the age of two. Robert Wright, author of "The Moral Animal", suggests that lying is a fundamental part of this empathy, a by-product of sorts. If you want to purposefully deceive someone, you first have to be able to understand what that person might be thinking.
Many plants and animals deceive others around them in order to get ahead in life. The Tawny Frogmouth is camouflaged to look like the tree upon which it is perched to deceive its predators and hide itself during the day. Some orchids deceive male insects by looking like their female partners, getting a free pollination and fooling the male into thinking it’s his lucky day.
However, the distinction between deception and lying is an important one. How aware are these plants and animals that they are engaged in deception?
Although deception in the animal kingdom can look like lying, finding examples of conscious lying amongst animals is difficult, says Richard Byrne, Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at the University of St. Andrews in the UK and author of The Thinking Ape. But, according to Byrne, there is certain evidence that the higher apes—chimps, bonobos and gorillas—do engage in a conscious form of deception that is different to the plant and animal deception mentioned above.
Monkey Liars
When chimpanzees are foraging for food, a chimp who comes across something tasty will occasionally pretend not to have noticed the food so as not to alert the chimps nearby and lose his prize. But sometimes a competitor chimp will walk past the pretending chimp, then hide behind a tree and peep out to see if the pretending chimp really does have some food.
There are many examples of animals pretending not to have seen food in order to save it for themselves later, says Byrne, but not of a competitor hiding and turning back to peep.
Byrne suggests that this could be an example of lying, monkey-style. "Why would you do that if you didn’t have an idea that something is going on? If you have some kind of idea that there is something secret going on, you understand deception. "
Lying in this sense is part of an ability to take into account the likely response of another. This is the ability to understand another’s mind. Such an ability evolved because individuals and groups that possessed this skill thrived. Why? Because they were able to communicate and interact more effectively as a group, which in turn affected their capacity to survive.
Ability to Speak=More Lies
In the case of humans, the possibility for lying increased even further because of our use of oral language. To quote Robert Wright again, "We are far from the only dishonest species, but we are surely the most dishonest, if only because we do the most talking. "
However, there is a restriction to the advantages of lying and the benefits it can bring. Otherwise, we’d just lie all the time! Paul Ekman, Professor of Psychology at the University of California, San Francisco, believes that we did not evolve to be inherently deceptive creatures because it would pervert our success as a society. "I suspect that our ancestral environment was not one in which there were many opportunities to lie and get away with it, and the costs for being caught in a lie might have been severe. "
According to Robert Wright, human beings are the most dishonest, because ______.
选项
答案
we do the most talking
解析
(倒数第二段提到To quote Robe Wright again, "We are far from the only dishonest species, but we are surely the most dishonest, if only because we do the most talking."。if only正是,恰恰是。)
转载请注明原文地址:https://www.kaotiyun.com/show/ICAK777K
本试题收录于:
B类竞赛(英语专业本科专科)题库大学生英语竞赛(NECCS)分类
0
B类竞赛(英语专业本科专科)
大学生英语竞赛(NECCS)
相关试题推荐
Whendifficultpeopleexpressthemselvesorally,theygenerallywantatleasttwothings:they’vebeenheardandthey’vebeenund
WhichEnglishwordisalwayspronouncedincorrectly?
Sheis________rudeandmean.Ireallycan’tunderstandwhyyou’refriendswithher.
TheMcDonald’srestaurantswerestartedbytheMcDonald【D6】________.Theywantedtogivepeoplequick,easyandcheapmeals.T
TheMcDonald’srestaurantswerestartedbytheMcDonald【D6】________.Theywantedtogivepeoplequick,easyandcheapmeals.T
Angelawassurprisedtogetsuchabadgradeonthetestbecauseshe________foritforalongtime.
Manypeopletodayareworriedaboutbirdflu.Theyareafraidthatitwillpassfrombirdstohumansandthatthousandsofpeopl
Americansarepeopleobsessedwithchild-rearing.Intheirbooks,magazines,talkshows,parenttrainingcourses,WhiteHousesc
Westillhaven’tmadeadecision______tothenewengineeringproject.It’sreallyahardchoice.
Whoistheinterviewee?
随机试题
下列哪一项属于癌前病变()
在下列哪些场所周边距离10米内至300米内,经国务院或者省、自治区、直辖市的人民政府批准才能举行集会游行?
根据《建设工程监理规范》规定,监理实施细则的主要内容有()
工业项目土地利用系数是指( )。
关于企业整体经济价值的类别,下列说法中不正确的是()。
中国古代园林按园林所处地理位置分为北方类型和江南类型。()
G、H、J、K、L、M和O七人结伴出游。在他们4天的露营生活中,每天要安排两个人值班为大家做饭。要求这4天的人员安排不能重复,且恰好有一人值班两天。此外,值班安排还须满足下列条件:(1)J要排在H值班的次日。(2)值班两天的那个人必须排
下列各项中,非法的Internet的IP地址是()。
不是什么大不了的问题。
From1946until1954,theVietnamesehadstruggledfortheirindependencefromFranceduringtheFirstIndochinaWar./Attheen
最新回复
(
0
)