TRUTH AND DECEPTION 9

THINK AND DISCUSS

Answers will vary. Possible answers:

1. I guess it’s okay to lie to protect someone. Also, small lies that just make life easier probably aren’t so bad. For example, if a coworker asks me how my morning is going, it’s easy to say “fine,” even if I’m having a hard day.

2. I don’t like lying, but I guess I do it sometimes. Lying makes me feel guilty. I don’t feel good if I’ve found out that someone has lied to me. I usually can’t trust that person as easily after that.

EXPLORE THE THEME

A 1. The most common lies are ones that cover up a personal transgression.

2. Richard Nixon: personal transgression / personal advantage (to protect oneself ); P. T. Barnum: economic advantage (to promote one’s business); The Chicago White Sox: economic advantage (to gain financial benefits)

B cover up, mislead, innocence

Reading

PREPARING TO READ

A 1. deceptive

2. prominent

3. impostor

4. emergence

5. capacity

6. automatically

B 1. deceitful

2. thrive

3. prone to

4. gullible

5. systematically

6. fundamental

C Answers will vary. Possible answers:

1. Maybe. For example, lawyers often have to manipulate the truth and carefully choose their words when arguing for their clients. Some

people might see this as lying.

2. I always watch someone’s body language when I think he or she is lying. For example, someone who is being deceitful might fidget or not look me directly in the eye when speaking.

3. I think children are very gullible, but this is part of their charm. Of course, we become less gullible as we learn more and our brains develop. But I think after that, it depends on our personalities.

D Answers will vary. Possible answers:

feelings, work, money/finances, accomplishments

E Answers will vary. Possible answers:

excuses, our image, affairs, our achievements

UNDERSTANDING THE READING

A a, b, c, f

B 1. lie (Paragraph C)

2. one week (Paragraph C)

3. one or two (Paragraph C)

4. harmless (Paragraph C)

5. serious/big (Paragraph C)

6. language (Paragraph D)

7. (physical) force (Paragraph D)

8. believe/trust (Paragraph M)

9. expect (Paragraph N)

10. pleasing/comforting (Paragraph N)

11. false/untrue/contradicted by evidence (Paragraph O)

12. world view/beliefs/prejudices (Paragraph O)

C 1. unjust; Many are criminals who spin lies and

weave deceptive tales to gain unjust rewards. (Paragraph A)

2. reassuring; However, Kang Lee, a psychologist at the University of Toronto, sees the emergence of the behavior in toddlers as a reassuring sign that their cognitive growth is on track. (Paragraph F)

3. manipulate; The ability to manipulate others without using physical force may have helped us compete for resources— … (Paragraph D)

4. twist; Technology has opened up a new frontier for deceit, adding a 21st-century twist to the age-old conflict between our lying and trusting

selves. (Paragraph P)

5. get duped; “We get so much from believing, and there’s relatively little harm when we occasionally get duped,” says Tim Levine, a psychologist at the University of Alabama. (Paragraph L)

6. on track; However, Kang Lee, a psychologist at the University of Toronto, sees the emergence of the behavior in toddlers as a reassuring sign that their cognitive growth is on track. (Note this is the same sentence that contains the word reassuring for item 2.) (Paragraph F)

D Answers will vary. Possible answers:

1. Well, since the study is based on the premise that people lie, there’s a good chance that these people are also lying about how much they lie—

perhaps to make themselves look better.

2. I think they were most likely to record harmless lies, not serious ones.

3. There are experts who can detect a lie by watching a person’s body language. Maybe they could participate in an experiment, for example, a

pretend job interview. They can detect how many lies a person tells during the course of a one-hour interview.

E Lakoff is referring to information people learn that goes against their pre-existing beliefs or prejudices.

F 1. I saw a story announcing that a famous actor had been killed.

2. I was suspicious because a friend shared the story on Facebook, but this was not reported on other news websites.

3. Stories like these can be upsetting for the people involved. It also makes it difficult to distinguish between what is real and what is fake.

DEVELOPING READING SKILLS

A 1. method

2. purpose

3. conclusion

4. results

B Purpose: To study lying in children (Paragraph G)

Method: They ask kids to guess the identity of hidden toys, based only on an audio clue. For the first few toys, the clue is obvious—a bark for a

dog, a meow for a cat—and the children answer easily. Then they play a sound that has nothing to do with the toy. “So you play Beethoven, but the toy’s a car,” Lee explains. The experimenter leaves the room pretending to take a phone call—a lie for the sake of science—and asks the child not to peek at the toy. Returning, the experimenter asks

the child for the answer, then follows up with the question: “Did you peek?” (Paragraph G)

Result: The percentage of children who peek and then lie about it depends on their age. (Paragraph H)

C Answers will vary. Possible answer:

The results suggest that as children get older, they develop cognitively and in turn become better liars.

Video

BEFORE VIEWING

A Answers will vary. Possible answers:

I think children mainly tell lies to protect themselves so they won’t get in trouble. They might also tell lies to get something.

B 1. They have to be able to recognize circumstances in which a lie will be believed. Also they need to be able to control their facial expressions and body language.

2. Answers will vary. Possible answers: Lee feels that it’s a sign of the child’s cognitive development.

C 1. condone

2. transgression

3. milestone

WHILE VIEWING

A 1. tell white lies

2. cover up a transgression

B Answers will vary. Possible answers:

Experiment One—Method:

- Researcher asks child series of questions.

- Researcher gives child a prize.

- Researcher pretends to be busy while child opens the prize.

- Researcher comes back to table and asks, “Do you like your prize?”

- Child either lies or tells the truth.

Experiment Two—Method:

- Researcher plays card game with child.

- Researcher tells child that if next answer is right, she will get a prize.

- Researcher pretends to get a phone call and leaves room. Tells child not to look at the cards.

- Child either looks or doesn’t look at the cards while waiting.

- Researcher comes back and asks if child looked at the cards.

- Child either lies or tells the truth.

AFTER VIEWING

A Answers will vary. Possible answer:

I think maybe it depends on the lie, but for the most part, parents should recognize that lying is a natural part of cognitive development. However,

parents also must teach their children about ethics and moral behavior, so perhaps a child telling a lie could be an opportunity to discuss that.

B Answers will vary. Possible answer:

White lies protect the feelings of other people. If we stopped lying to protect others’ feelings, we’d probably end up offending each other.

Writing

EXPLORING WRITTEN ENGLISH

A Answers will vary. Possible answers:

1. more than half / the majority of

2. three out of ten / approximately a third

3. five out of ten / half

4. eight out of ten / 80 percent

LANGUAGE FOR WRITING

B 1. approximately a third

2. Half

3. More than two-fifths

4. Less than a third

C Answers will vary. Possible answers:

One in ten of those aged 60 to 77 told more than five lies in a day.

Approximately one-quarter of those aged 13 to 17 told no lies in a day.

WRITING SKILL

D 1. a

2. c, g

3. d, b, f

4. e

WRITING TASK

B Answers will vary. Possible answers:

Study: A Class Divided

Purpose of Study: to demonstrate how racism affects people

Method: A class of schoolchildren are separated into two groups based on eye color: blue and brown. The children in the blue-eyed group

are given extra privileges, such as more time at recess and water fountain access, and are also repeatedly told that they are better and smarter. Those in the brown-eyed group have their regular privileges taken away and are constantly told that they are not as good as the children in the blue-eyed group

Results: The children in the blue-eyed group begin to discriminate against their brown-eyed classmates based on these new rules. Some

fights and arguments break out. The brown-eyed children lose motivation and don’t perform well in their studies.

Conclusion: Discrimination has a very negative impact on those experiencing it; and the anger, depression, and lack of motivation that result from being treated unfairly make it a struggle for those trying to overcome the discrimination..

REVISING PRACTICE

1. c, a, b

2. a. It was found that as teenagers, the participants …

b. about 33 percent approximately one-third

EDITING PRACTICE

Answers will vary. Possible answers:

1. A third of the participants was were able to delay gratification.

2. The majority of the research were was carried out in South America.

3. Around two-thirds of the participants weren’t able to wait for the two marshmallows.

4. Less Fewer than one hundred children took part in the study.

UNIT REVIEW

1. Answers will vary. Possible answers: for financial gain, for personal advantage, to cover up mistakes, to avoid doing something, to be polite, etc.

2. According to the reading passage, people may believe something that is contradicted by evidence if it fits in with their world view.

3. Purpose, Method, Results, Conclusion

4. Answers will vary