Smart Kids Learn to Lie Sooner, and Other Links
Smart kids learn how to lie sooner than dumb kids. Early liars also do better later in life.
When it comes to teamwork, 2’s company, but 3’s a crowd. Two people can learn to cooperate intuitively, but larger groups need to communicate.
Why the rich eat healthier? They’re better educated and less price-sensitive.
I have to be rich to eat healthy?
I think the study about kids is correct. Smarter kids do learn to lie sooner. They’re also better liars.
Learning to lie is a developmental milestone. I only hope smart kids also learn they should not lie sooner than dumb kids.
About healthy eating: I don’t believe it’s only about price sensitivity. There is a subtle peer pressure among higher social status individuals not to over-indulge in foods that are characteristic of an unhealthy lifestyle.
Perhaps the same impulse control that leads to higher social status also leads to healthier eating.
Learning to lie (i.e. conceal the truth) may also be a form of impulse control– consider the toddler’s impulse to announce every fleeting thought and repeat everything heard.
…I was just recalling a TV science program that showed how one of the main differences between human and chimp intelligence comes down to impulse control.
Bart, given my recent inability to put down the potato chips, I am thinking the chimps have us beaten.
About the lying kids: I don’t recall consciously lying as a child. I remember doing other nefarious things. But lying… Perhaps I was not smart enough to pull it off. Or perhaps I tried it once, and my parents cured me of that habit!