HONESTLY ...YOU’RE ALL LIARS!
Brits fib more now than ever
BRITAIN is a nation of LIARS, according to new research.
Compared to a decade ago, we lie, cheat, speed, buy blackmarket goods and SHAG behind our partners’ backs more than ever.
And it’s only going to get worse, because young people see that sort of behaviour as increasingly acceptable, say boffins.
Social scientists at Essex University asked 2,000 people to consider 15 “temptations” – asking whether taking advantage of them was ever justified.
They included cheating on taxes, skipping a train fare, failing to report an accident and lying on job application forms.
Ten of the so-called “integrity indicators” were compared to similar questions asked 10 years ago – and for eight of them the percentage of people who thought about succumbing to temptation has rocketed.
The percentage of people who thought keeping cash found in the street was WRONG has dropped from 40 per cent to 20 per cent.
Only one in three of us now thinks that lying in our interest is NOT acceptable.
And half of us think lying on a job application form is perfectly justified. Professor Paul Whiteley, who led the study, said: “In the long run these changes have pretty bad consequences.
“If people don’t believe and trust each other, it has bad consequences for the economy and for society.”
The study also showed no difference between classes – rich people are just as likely to
lie and cheat as the poor.