蜜芽传媒

Good morning. Recent years have seen constant questioning of the integrity of people in public and commercial life. We may have thought nothing would shock us anymore. But the scale of the arrests of FIFA officials this week was dramatic. And it all took place as members of our Parliament began a new session. At Westminster, though, one tradition seems as firm as ever: that no Member of Parliament should lie to the House. Misleading the Commons certainly contributed to the downfall of John Profumo many years ago. We still possess a wider expectation of probity in public life, even if scarcely anyone imagines there鈥檚 no dissembling in politics. In a candid moment a long time ago the American politician Adlai Stevenson recalled a boy who jumbled up his biblical quotations and said 鈥淎 lie is an abomination unto the Lord and a very present help in trouble鈥�. Stevenson鈥檚 point was that such help doesn鈥檛 usually last long.

None of us likes being lied to. But how do you know when someone is lying to you?

New research from the University of Chicago suggests that groups of people in discussion are more likely to identify lies than even the best trained individual. The Chicago research says this group advantage doesn鈥檛 come about because of the accumulation of small amounts of insight. Somehow the very process of group discussion creates a unique, almost mysterious, degree of accuracy to identify falsehoods. And it seems to apply both to white lies and much more serious whoppers.

The publication of this research made no reference to the jury system but reports about it soon made the link. The poet Robert Frost once said 鈥淎 jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer鈥�. These findings seem to suggest such cynicism is not well founded.

The ninth commandment is 鈥淵ou shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.鈥� Lying breaks our relationship with those around us and with God. No lasting organisation, business or society is likely to be built on lies, no matter how great a smokescreen their corporate communications create. Fortunately, many people seem to have a Pinocchio-like tendency to give themselves away when telling untruths. Yet it seems we discover lies not simply by listening to someone鈥檚 words but by observing their behaviour, actions and attitudes. Perhaps that鈥檚 why when Pontius Pilate asked Jesus the cynical question 鈥淲hat is truth?鈥� Jesus gave him no reply but let his integrity speak for itself. And now there鈥檚 further welcome scientific evidence of our collective capacity to sniff out the authentic.

First broadcast 29 May 2015

Show less