Why Do We Do That? - 6. Why do we lie?

Download 6. Why do we lie?

Ella Al-Shamahi asks why do we lie?
You might think that deception is a uniquely human characteristic, but does camouflage or mimicry in nature, where animals pretend to be another animal or the actual environment like the insects leaf-mimic katydids that walk around looking like a leaf. Does that count as lying? Or is it just us humans with our highly complex language that have the ability to tell a fib. Ella talks to Dr Roman Stengelin of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, who investigates children from very different cultures to discover when and how they develop this very human ability and professional poker player Liv Boeree to discover the art of bluffing.

BBC Studios
Produced by Emily Bird
Additional production Olivia Jani and Ben Hughes
Series Producer Geraldine Fitzgerald
Executive Producer Alexandra Feachem
Commissioning Editor Rhian Roberts

Published on Friday, 7th March 2025.

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