Women and Lying

This is off-topic of original discussion regarding society, women and lying, but thought was fascinating:

http://www.usc.edu/uscnews/stories/11655.html

New study shows that pathological liars, manipulators and cheaters actually have abnormal brain structure!

The researchers found that liars have more white matter and less gray matter in the brain.

White matter is primarily what the brain is made up of; what we think of as "the brain". The habitual liar has a surplus of white matter, and may be more advanced in their verbal skills and in their ability to conduct the complex task of lying.

In contrast, the gray matter is what connects the white matter together. It helps us make moral decisions and aids in suppression and inhibition. Habitual liars, with a deficit in gray matter, therefore, are less able to process the moral decisions of lying.

The article also discusses long-term implications of this finding, including potentially aiding criminal investigations or in making clinical diagnoses.

Read the article, and tell me what you think!

I used to "hide my age", because in my experience, being female and young (and I look even younger than my real age!) is difficult when in the professional arena with older folks, who do not take us "young professionals" as seriously. They make jokes, or call us "kiddo", when we have the same degrees, intellect, job position and sophistication. Granted, they have more years of experience, which is why I respected them and valued their expertise and opinions. However, the respect was not always reciprocal, on the basis of age.

So...women approaching their 40s or 50s or 80s don't just hide their age, so do those of us who are in our 30s (and I especially did when I was in my late 20s, out of college and still lumped in with those "wild kids" who were just turning 21).

Actually, what this is called is ageism and our society puts so many stereotypes on individuals, no matter what their age! It's just another reason to label someone and make assumptions....grrr.... Can you tell this is my sensitive topic?! :-)

I was going to say...are men really any different? I think not; and I think both men and women lie about pretty much the same things and for similar reasons. I've even known men to lie about their hair color (remember Grecian Formula?). Position, cars and money are not just "guy lies," anymore; but men play those games better than women.

When it's no longer a game is when it hurts someone else. But, is it really lying to not tell someone a hurtful truth? Wouldn't it be wiser to exercise discretion in some matters? I suppose that falls in the category of "beneficial lying."

About age: I was raised to believe that a woman who would tell her age would say anything. It wasn't until I turned 50 that I didn't care, anymore, about making it such a huge mystery. Most people can do the math, once they know how old my kids are. Besides, I have great genes - my mom looks terrific for her age and no one ever believes how old I am. I just hope that holds true when I'm my mom's age!