Study: We Are More Honest in Mornings
- 10 years ago
If you want to get an honest answer out of someone, it’s best to ask the question in the morning.
If you want to get an honest answer out of someone, it’s best to ask the question in the morning.
That’s according to a study, conducted by researchers from both Harvard University and the University of Utah.
Based on their findings, by the time afternoon rolls around, the odds somebody’s lying go up between 20 and 50 percent.
People are also more likely to cheat or engage in some other type of dishonesty as the day goes on.
The researchers attribute the weakening of moral fiber to the wearing away of an individual’s ability to regulate themselves.
It’s that self-supervision that keeps people on the straight and narrow.
Apparently its undoing is the result of being gradually chipped away by the day’s experiences.
Past studies have shown that self-control requires energy, so it makes sense that as the day depletes the source, there will be consequences.
For the study itself, participants were given a variety of challenges, each of which came with built-in cheating opportunities, and observed as people muddled through them.
Overall, afternoon trials elicited a whole lot more sketchy behavior than the morning ones did.
If you want to get an honest answer out of someone, it’s best to ask the question in the morning.
That’s according to a study, conducted by researchers from both Harvard University and the University of Utah.
Based on their findings, by the time afternoon rolls around, the odds somebody’s lying go up between 20 and 50 percent.
People are also more likely to cheat or engage in some other type of dishonesty as the day goes on.
The researchers attribute the weakening of moral fiber to the wearing away of an individual’s ability to regulate themselves.
It’s that self-supervision that keeps people on the straight and narrow.
Apparently its undoing is the result of being gradually chipped away by the day’s experiences.
Past studies have shown that self-control requires energy, so it makes sense that as the day depletes the source, there will be consequences.
For the study itself, participants were given a variety of challenges, each of which came with built-in cheating opportunities, and observed as people muddled through them.
Overall, afternoon trials elicited a whole lot more sketchy behavior than the morning ones did.