All language subtitles for BBC.Horizon.2018.A.Week.Without.Lying.720p.HDTV.x264.AAC.MVGroup.org_eng

Deception is an integral
part of human nature.

From the age of one and two,

we begin to lie by crying
to get attention.

And it's estimated we all
lie up to nine times a day.

People are better at lying actually,
than we are at detecting lies.

But what if we created a world
in which we couldn't lie?

In a radical experiment,

pioneering scientists from across
Europe have come together

to make this happen.

Brand-new technology is allowing
them to rig three British people -

priest, advertising exec
and YouTuber...

I feel like I'm in, like, a
sci-fi movie or something.

..to make it impossible
for them to lie undetected.

Firstly, I went to
a networking party.

I don't think that I ever lie.

She said yes,
but she was nodding no.

Yeah, they were fine,
they were fine.

This is probably a lie.

Then, they will be challenged
to live for a whole week without

telling a single lie...
Have we been frustrating?

Erm, not at all.

..a bold social experiment to
discover the role of deception

in our lives... Lying is a
fundamental part of being human.

Is it really possible to
not lie for an entire week?

..to investigate the impact
lying has on our mental state...

You know it's stressful.

What's so hard?

..and the consequences of
it for our relationships.

If I tell you, I think
we'll get divorced.

Would the world be a better or
worse place if we couldn't lie?

Three people are about to
take part in a world first -

a lie detection study
of modern British life.

I'm Mo Saha, I'm 37 years old,

from East London and I'm a brand
and advertising consultant.

I'm Ruth Newton, I'm 46 years old
and I am a parish priest

and lay training officer
in the diocese of Leeds.

My name is Ehiz, I am 19. I am
from East London and I'm a student

at university and an online blogger.

They are key in an experiment being
run by psychology experts to study

the impact that lying
has on our lives today.

I think it'd be great if we could
understand a little bit about their

home lives, their social lives,
maybe...work as well.

My interest in deception is
basically individual differences.

So, the variety of motives for
people's lying, their performance,

are they good liars,
good lie detectors?

What's very different about this
experiment compared to almost

everything else that any of the
deception researcher has done before

is that we are following the same
people for an entire week.

Normally participants come in

and tell one truth or one lie,

or maybe both and that's it.

So, Ruth, are you as excited
and anxious as we are?

Yes, I think I am, yeah.

So, what do you do in
advertising then? What's the job?

Well, I'm a consultant,
a freelance consultant.

I try and find something interesting
about the product or the service and

create campaigns off the back of it.
Borderline lying or...?

Erm, positioning, I'd call it,

putting it in its
best light, I think.

Hopefully not lying. What we are
going to do is hook you up with

three pieces of technology. OK.

Key to this experiment

is ground-breaking new
lie detection equipment

the subjects will be wearing
throughout their normal lives.

So, let's start with the watch.

This state-of-the-art wrist
sensor detects changes

in heart rate and sweat,
which can change when we lie,

transmitting the data
to the science team.

I'm a bit worried that I lie more
than I think I do

because I think I'm
quite an honest person

but, since I've been thinking
about it, I'm not 100% sure,

so I'm very worried about that.

This is going to measure
your heart rate,

measure whether you
are sweating or not.

So, I'll put it on your right
wrist. Yeah. Perfect.

Lying increases the cognitive load,
or strain on our brains

which, in turn, can affect
the movement of our bodies.

I feel like I'm in, like, a
sci-fi movie or something.

These unique suits use 17
accelerometers

to pick up on the tiniest
of movements... Like that?

..enabling the scientists
to sort truths from lies,

with around 82% accuracy.

I am nervous.

I am nervous that I might be more
dishonest than I think I am

and that would reflect
really badly on my self image

and on my professional image.

Stretch your arms out.

Perfect. And walk back
to where you came from.

The scientists' final tool
is language analysis,

which looks for clusters of verbal
clues indicating deception.

With the subjects fully rigged, it's
time for the experiment to begin.

First, the scientists want to gain
an insight into the types of lies

the subjects regularly use.

Let me start with a toughie.

Do you remember the last lie
that you told?

I...had a cigarette, actually,
the other day and told my partner

that I didn't and she
called me up on it.

That was the last one
I can remember,

it was a couple of days ago.
A lot of the lies that we tell

are actually to protect ourselves,

for example, because you did
something wrong, a transgression,

and you are trying to hide it.

My sister, she left some pancakes
in the fridge

and she asked who ate them,

and I said that it was not me.

And then there are omissions,
where we don't tell the piece of

information that perhaps might
have been relevant to the story.

I think that I find it difficult
to tell people difficult truths.

If they said, "Does my
bum look big in this?"

It would have to look very big
for me to say, "Go and change."

I think, at work, sometimes, when I
don't agree with the point of view,

I'll go, "That's interesting,"
and kind of not address it,

or say that I don't agree with you.

We all have a unique relationship
with deception

and why we choose to lie.

Understanding this context
is key for the scientists.

When I was a bit younger, I had
a little bit of a slippery

relationship with the truth
cos I used to keep quite a lot...

My parents are quite traditional,
Indian parents, so I didn't feel

like I could be honest with
my parents about my sexuality

and my relationships,
and my lifestyle.

Jesus is the way,
the truth and the life,

the important phrase
being, "The truth."

But, if it's a choice
between truth and love,

I always want to go with love.

There must be a way of
being lovingly truthful,

but I haven't quite learnt that yet.

That sounds like a big challenge.

I know, when I was in school,

I was bullied a lot because of my
personality and the way I speak,

and the way I behave.
And I even, to the extent,

wanted to become somebody
who I was not happy being,

which was this stereotypical,
"All right, mate," kind of guy.

When we present to others
we have a front stage,

which we prepare for
everybody to see and do,

and then there's a backstage, which
we reserve to ourselves

and maybe a few select others.

So, I've come to find the
frontstage and backstage,

and I've come to the decision
that I am going to be centre stage

and I'm going to play my role and
be the best person I can be.

We're now going to
move onto something

we often do in a laboratory,
which is have people

deliberately tell a lie,

so we can see how it impacts on you
and the sorts of things you do.

This context will help them create a
baseline of behaviour

to assist in identifying
their lies in the real world.

So, can you tell me
about your last holiday?

My last holiday was to Seattle.

We went to Scarborough,
in North Yorkshire.

I went to the Maldives.

So, in our research, we showed that
the majority of people actually more

when they are lying. Mo is one of
the few people that move less when

they are lying, so she sort of
freezes when she becomes deceptive.

The most fascinating I find about
Ehiz's baseline

is the amount of details he
includes in all of his stories.

So, he first lied about
his trip to the Maldives

and he actually included a lot
of interesting details.

I'm not going to lie, the flight was
really horrible because it was very,

very cramped because...

Ruth's physiology we were monitoring
was quite stable, really,

throughout the interactions with us,

so she's going to be a tough one.

The scientists are monitoring the
participants across a typical day,

to uncover how important deception
is to our lives.

One in five of our social
interactions usually involves some

kind of deceit and 92% of us admit
to lying to our romantic partner.

The scientists want to study if

and how Mo lies to her
romantic partner, Sofia.

Hiya. You all right?

Can I get two smoothies, please,
and two soya lattes, please?

Two soya lattes. Thanks very much.

Mo's baseline taught us that she
really owns her truths,

compared to her lies.

When she lies, she shuts down and
she becomes much more concerned

about making sure she is saying the
right things and not giving it away.

Will the scientists' baseline
observation that Mo doesn't speak

her mind play out in real life?

How do you feel about
Brighton next weekend?

Are you looking forward to it?

Yeah, I mean, I don't know
your two friends that well,

but I'm up for going
and I want to stay in Brighton,

and it'll be nice
to go, you know, hang out,

get out of London for a bit.

I think it'll be fun. I don't know
anyone, but I think it'll be good.

Truth or lie?

So, this is a really interesting
one, from a language perspective.

What we see here is Mo using
very positive, effective language

to give a top-level answer,

which is masquerading
perhaps some deeper concerns

about what's happening.

I'm up for going and I want to stay
in Brighton and it'll be nice to go,

you know, hang out and get
out of London for a bit.

From a movement perspective,

this one was very
interesting as well

because she was sitting almost
completely still.

So, if we have a look here,
then you can see

she's not using her hands
at all for gesturing.

It looks like she's holding
her chair almost, yeah.

Yeah, it looks like she's holding
her chair and, from the baseline,

we know that Mo, whenever
she's telling the truth

that she actually uses
her hands quite a lot,

so I think, based on her movements,
that this is probably a lie.

So, either lying or certainly
perhaps covering up

a more mixed feeling about that
trip to Brighton? Definitely.

I do want to get out of London
and I do want to go to Brighton.

It wouldn't be, like, my
first choice of thing to do,

to go to someone's birthday
party that I don't know.

But if that's the case and it
makes her happy, then I'll do it.

If you have one conversation,

then the chances are
the highest that

if this conversation is with a
stranger, that you are lying.

But because you talk so much more
often to people

that you are very close to -

for example, your romantic
partner, your best friends,

maybe your boss - if you add up
all the lies that we tell,

actually the majority of the lies
are to people

that we are very close to and
that on top of this list is,

I'm sorry, Mum, but mothers!

Lying to avoid confrontation is
a common form of deception.

Studies show that this regularly
occurs in the workplace.

How are you doing? Yeah, good.
I haven't seen you in ages...

The scientists are keen to observe
how this plays out in real life.

Today, I've got a meeting with
one of my brand clients.

Going to be having a
catch-up basically,

a bit of a recap of
some of the work we've done.

You know, they're new clients, so I
don't want to be too overly direct.

Actually, I think the fact that
there is tension that we can't quite

nail right now is a good thing.

Yeah, I'm totally here to bounce
off. I'm around all of next week.

Have we been frustrating?
Not at all, I just think

it's probably been the most
challenging one of these I've done,

but because of the reason...

..that there wasn't a
"why" to start with...

..that works in today's marketplace.

A tough question.

You are sat in front of your clients

and with colleagues beside you,

you're asked a very direct question,

I certainly saw her respond with

increased arousal during that
whole phase of questioning.

We see that she doesn't move
that much but, actually,

I think later on, she's going
to explain it a bit more,

she starts moving more, so probably
the initial answer,

"No, you're not," that's
maybe not completely true,

but then, afterwards, she is going

to explain exactly
what the challenges are.

I don't think they
have been frustrating.

I think I'm frustrated at myself

for not spotting how to
get them there quicker.

I think she could be a
little bit harsher with us.

She could say to us, "Guys, come
on, we've talked around this

"a few times, where are
you coming down on it?"

Mo often has to lie
when she presents herself

in the workplace publicly.

That is, she doesn't like to be
in the limelight, but her work,

like it does for so many of us,

forces us into a position where we
have to be that extrovert

and that can be really quite
draining for someone who that's not

their natural way of interacting.

70% of us say that it is OK to lie

in order to protect someone
or avoid hurt feelings.

Parish priest Ruth
is one of those people.

In Sharrow, North Yorkshire,

the scientists will be monitoring
Ruth's honestly levels

on a typical Sunday to
see how much she lies

and what impact this has on her.

I'm feeling very excited.

I'm not feeling too
nervous about the service

because I don't think that
I ever lie during a service.

Although, perhaps afterwards,
during coffee, who knows?

Good morning, everyone,

and welcome to St John's.

Since I've thought about this
experiment that I'm involved with,

I've noticed that I sometimes

struggle to challenge
people with the truth.

After hearing some special prayers
from members of her congregation...

And pour out your love on us.

..it's time for coffee
with her parishioners.

Our early interactions
with Ruth taught us

she tends to be overly
positive when she lies,

so she uses that positive
emotion as a way of

glossing over the underlying truth.

She also uses a great
amount of omissions.

So, she doesn't actually
tell a deceit,

she doesn't actually conceal
information, but what she does

is not answer the question,

or not address the issue at hand.

Hi, how are you? OK.
Lovely, lovely service.

Thank you. Yes, and the
prayers, were they...?

Yeah, they were fine,
they were fine, yeah.

They...covered the brief.

So, yeah, I think...

And, um, they were very clear,

everybody could hear
what was going on.

Good. So, yeah, I think
you did really well.

Really? Yeah. Thanks, Ruth.

Well done, Richard. Thank
you very much. Bye now.

In a bid to better
understand how we lie,

one of the methods the scientists
employ is language analysis,

recording everything Ruth says and
highlighting patterns

and changes in her speech.

Ruth's answer is
quite factual based.

"It was to the brief," for example.
Yeah.

If you actually think
about what that means,

it's, "That was satisfactory.

"That just kind of did the job."

Also, commenting on the fact the
prayers were audible, you know.

If you really can't say anything
else, then talk about audible.

Looking at the data we are getting
from the watch

and the physiological response
there, it's quite interesting.

During that interaction she was
having there about the prayers,

there was certainly a spike in how
sweaty her fingers were getting,

so the electrodermal activity.

What I found very interesting

is that she said, "Yes,"

but she was nodding,
"No," when she was saying

that the prayers were fine.

The prayers, yeah, they were fine.

They were fine, yeah.

They covered the brief.

With her, I find that, quite
strikingly, that her nonverbal

behaviour and her verbal
behaviour doesn't always match.

Absolutely. So, to just sum it up,
do we think she was lying here?

It sounds like she's trying to
present to Richard

a more positive story than she
actually believes.

I think so too, yeah.

I think that I probably told Richard

that his prayers were
better than they were.

If things are good enough,

then I tend not to say how
they can be made better.

I just want to encourage people that
they've done a good enough job.

Hi. Come in. Hi.

Next, Ruth has a visit
from a couple she's marrying.

And then we have the final hymn,

and then a blessing.

They have a general chat
about the upcoming wedding,

but bride Paraskevi has a more
probing question for her.

We're having our wedding on
a Saturday, aren't we?

Do you feel like your weekends
get taken up with weddings?

I like taking a wedding.

You do? It makes...
It makes...a happy day.

There's lots of things that I do
that aren't really very enjoyable,

because they're to do with people
being sad, or people being ill,

or people needing support.

But weddings are
real happy occasions.

So, you don't mind your weekends
being taken up with them?

No. That's nice.

Right, I just want to
jump in on this one.

So, when she's asked about whether
she enjoys working at the weekends,

we see a little bit of a spike,

an increase in her
electrodermal activity,

so that response where the wrist
gets slightly more sweaty,

and her heart rate drops as well.

So, that's making me
start to question

whether she's being
entirely honest...

That's interesting, because I think,
from a language point of view,

we see a similar thing, which
is almost lying by omission,

a strategy that we
know some people use.

There's lots of things that I do
that aren't really very enjoyable

because they are to do with people
being sad, or people being ill,

or people needing support.

In this case, what Ruth is doing

is she's choosing a more negative
option and reflecting on the fact

that weddings are more positive.

So, by comparing it to very
sad and negative events,

a wedding on Saturday is perfect.

Yes. On the other hand,
I can't really blame her.

This is a bride who's very excited
about her one special day,

probably planning it
for months or years.

Isn't this the perfect
example of white lies?

That white lies serve
a particular purpose.

It's a great example of the fact
that lying is not inherently bad.

There are times when it has
a role in our interactions

and our relationships with others.

When it comes to telling
white lies, Ruth's not alone.

Around three quarters of us
admit to telling white lies.

They account for around
80% of the fibs we tell.

Saturdays, every
other week, is my day off

and, if I get a run of weddings
and I don't get my day off,

then that is quite annoying.

But I just didn't think it was good
to say

I'd rather be doing the
shopping than doing the wedding.

And somehow that's not
entirely true either.

# I got a ticket
for the long way round

# I brought a whisky for the way

# And I sure would like
some sweet company

# There's something...
What do you say? #

19-year-old drama student
and online blogger Ehiz

lives at home with
his three siblings,

who have their own theories
about his lying techniques.

We've been brought up not to lie and
just to be truthful with everything,

no matter how bad it is.

But when he does lie, he does,
like, a little lip quiver

and his eye does this, and
I also know that he becomes

very dismissive and
defensive as well.

People are better
at lying, actually,

than we are at detecting lies.

But we do think we are pretty good
at lie detection,

so our confidence
levels are quite high.

We probably over-rely on lots of
nonverbal behaviour

and things like that,

which we think is
indicative of deception -

which, in actual fact, isn't.

We're usually about a
coin toss accuracy, 50-50

or 54%, the research says.

# You're gonna miss me
when I'm gone. #

Yeah!

Over the course of a week, we lie to
a third of the people in our lives.

And research shows that many of us
tell a lot more self-centred lies

than those that benefit others.
Why would I wear your clothes?

The scientists want to study how
this theory works in the real world,

so they are monitoring how Ehiz
deals with tricky questions

from his family. His baseline taught
us, when he's trying to construct

his lie, he completely distances
himself from what's being said.

So, there's no first person pronoun
use, no pronoun use at all almost,

it's all third person,
describing what was going on,

until he's got a story in his head
that he can then move forward with.

When Mum and Dad are calling
you to come and do something,

do you purposely ignore
when they are calling you?

You know the walls are very thick...

No. ..so it's very, very hard
to, like, hear and, like, interact.

Do you pretend to sleep when we
call you downstairs

to come and do something? You know
how much I work hard, you know...

No, no, no... No, no, no.
You know I work very hard. Yeah.

I go to uni and I go to work and
I've got band practice

and church on Sunday.
You know it's stressful.

I'm living a very stressful life.

But I remember on Christmas Day,
I saw you quickly hide your phone

under your pillow and
slap your head on the pillow,

and you covered yourself,
and you were laughing. No, no.

Laughing... But you do
know that, like, at times...

..I sleep talk and that?

Sleep talking! You can
have dreams where you are...

I actually did have
one the other day.

You were sending voice notes.
No, I wasn't.

Yes, you were. I don't know what
room you went to

cos I was not... In the morning,
I don't talk to anyone,

so I don't know
what you're on about.

Wow. So, from a language
perspective,

there's two really interesting
things occurring here.

Firstly, when he starts
to answer that question,

he uses absolutely no
first person pronoun.

Really? There's no use
of I, or my or me,

which research has shown is often
associated with lying

or trying to avoid
telling the truth.

Then he starts to give
lots and lots of detail

about a thing that's
completely peripheral to the

question that's being asked.

You know I work very hard.

I go to uni, I go to work and

then I've got band practice,

then I'm at church on Sunday.
You know it's stressful.

One of the things that's been
observed in research in the amount

of details people give is actually
truth tellers and liars

don't often differ in the
amount of details they give,

what they differ in is the
quality of those details.

So, truth tellers really
talk about the substance,

the context, the smells,
the sites, the sounds,

the experiences they felt.

Whereas liars often talk
in superficial details,

they try and pad out their story

to try and make it
sound more realistic.

I wasn't expecting that at all.

I didn't tell one fib, one little
white lie, you know I didn't.

I just said it as it is.
Literally, all just as it is.

The scientists think he's lying,

his siblings say he's lying,

but Ehiz is adamant he's not.

Or this an embellishment, too?

He's appeared to lie to cover up
of some his wrongdoings

and that's actually something
we do from a very early age.

From the age of one and two,

we begin to lie by
crying to get attention.

There's sort of an increase in how
much and how proficient people are

at lying. From the age of six up to
roughly adolescence,

and then when we get older,

we actually don't lie
that much any more.

You see that whenever people hit
roughly 60 years

and they are back at the level
of lying of six-year-olds,

which I think is wonderful.

My schedule has just been
jam-packed, it's so busy.

I am here networking, auditions...

Networking, repeat.

Where's networking? Thursday,
I went to a networking party...

Did you, like, make any
contacts, anyone important?

I got there, listen...
I opened the door...

He puts a great deal of effort into
the presentation of his persona.

It's nonverbals, it's facial
expressions, it's tone of voice,

it's accent and all these sorts
of things,

but you've got to think
that a lot of hard work.

Got work on Friday and Saturday,
then church on Sunday.

Then, Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday...

So, what's the benefit?

Interestingly, we find that some
people actually display

what we call duper's delight.

It's the enjoyment of lying,

it's the enjoyment of potentially
getting one over on somebody.

It's potentially a sense of power.

And I think we certainly see
that sometimes in Ehiz.

Did it even cross my mind
that I may have been lying?

Possibly, did it
even subconsciously...?

I've not even realised and the
people I'm speaking to

probably didn't realise themselves.
In the end, you are just building

a lively conversation and that
is part of human interaction.

OK, guys, without further ado,
let's get on...

Like many of us now, Ehiz has
a strong online presence.

As a blogger, he has an alter ego.

Subscribe, subscribe, subscribe.

But there's little difference
between his tendency to exaggerate

and embellish online and offline.

New forms of communication
technology

have opened up brand-new platforms,

where we have to
decide how honest to be.

But is this technology actually
causing us to lie more?

There is a real concern in almost
every area of the Internet...

..online dating, hiring people,

friendships, that people
lie more with technology.

Professor Jeff Hancock
is a world-leading expert

in understanding how technology
and deception fit together.

I don't think technology
is making us lie more,

it's changing the way we lie and
the way we trust each other.

One example is, we had
people apply for a job.

They could do it on LinkedIn,
or in a paper resume.

And we found surprisingly that the
LinkedIn profiles were more honest.

One of the reasons for this is
because of this network right here.

So, this is all the people that
are connected to me and so,

lying on my LinkedIn profile
can show up to these folks.

So, the network acts as a, kind
of, constraint on deception,

and so I can't lie about those
kinds of big job things.

Also, when we asked people to
record all their lies for a week,

we actually found that they lied the
most on the phone and least of all,

in their e-mail. This is really
surprising for people usually,

but one of the reasons we see more
lies on the phone and face-to-face

is because it's spontaneous.

I can get asked things where
truth isn't a good option for me,

so I might say, "What do
you think of my beard?"

You hate beards and you say,

"Yeah, it's nice,
your shirt's really nice,"

because you don't want
to make me feel bad.

Where e-mail and text messaging
gives us a little time,

and we can actually come up with
answers that are more honest

than if we were just
put on the spot right away.

So, we're probably not
telling more lies,

we may just be changing when
we lie and the way we do it.

But does technology make us more
likely to be deceived?

So, some kind of lies,
we're much more susceptible to.

This is one of the reasons why
fake news has been so problematic.

When I see something
that's highly emotional,

it triggers a truth-first response.

So I believe that. The reason we
have that truth response is if there

was a sabre-tooth tiger over here

and I felt an emotion
and I disregarded it with,

"I'm going to doubt that first,"

then I would die and my genes
wouldn't be passed on.

So, this truth bias, or
trust default that we have,

comes from our evolution and so
fake news takes advantage

of that default trust. Highly
emotional, must be important,

I'd better spread it.

With false news being shared
more and reaching more people,

how do we combat it?

I think technology and deception
is kind of like an arms race.

So we do get more tools
to deceive other people,

this is what fake news
is taking advantage of,

but at the same time we get tools
that we can detect deception.

So, take the headline,

copy the headline and put
it into the search bar.

That's as simple as it is.

Deception ability increases,
but then detection increases.

So, I don't think, overall,

technology makes it harder
for us to detect deception.

The first part of the experiment

studying how we lie in the
real world is complete.

Hello again. How are you?
Hi, Ruth. Hi.

Its purpose was to take deception
studies out of the lab and discover,

for the first time, how deceptive
we are in our everyday lives.

So, the technology has been
examining your behaviour.

Now, what we're with you is
sometimes you omit details

and you go off on other paths.

It's distracting somebody from
the question they've asked

that you don't want to answer -
is that really lying?

Well, interestingly, scientists
view it as a form of lying.

OK, so I didn't realise that,

the technology was going
to pick up omission.

I thought that I was going to be
able to use that really well,

and really cunningly, to not lie.

So, Mo, that meeting you had with
some clients

seemed fairly intense to me and,
when you are in those scenarios,

do you feel you're, kind of, almost
projecting an alternative you,

and to what extent is that a lie?

It is a performance, to some extent.

In that way, I think it's
not entirely honest.

I've got a deep interest in how
society is increasingly favouring

the extrovert - the person who is
happy to be gregarious

and go to all of the meetings,
and presenting all the time -

over the introvert - who has to make
a lot of effort

to fit into that society.

Yeah, it's funny because I
think most of my clients

would assume I'm like that
all the time and I'm not really.

So, it is difficult.

To truly study the effect
lying has on society,

the experts have a radical second
part to their experiment,

challenging the participants to live
completely honestly 24/7

for a whole week. For a week, we
just want you to be fully honest.

So, what does that mean?
What do we expect from you?

Fabrications, downright lies -
those aren't allowed.

These lies of omissions,
I think, are off the table.

I'm just trying to imagine doing
this and it sounds difficult.

I'm really excited to
get some new insight

into if it's really possible

to not lie for an entire week.

We are hoping that we see some
behavioural change

and also a better understanding
of when it's appropriate

and not appropriate to lie.

They'll keep wearing the smartwatch

to provide the scientists with data

and it will also act as a
reminder to be honest.

Hi there, day five...

They'll all be keeping in close
contact with the scientists

throughout, via video diaries.

For Ruth in Yorkshire, whose
aim is always to be kind,

she's off to a slow start
on her dishonesty detox.

This morning, I went for an
appointment and, on the way,

I met a couple of people, who
seemed really pleased to see me.

But I didn't know who they were.

Now this is incredibly
embarrassing and I didn't say,

"I'm sorry I don't remember you,
or know who you are."

That would have been quite hurtful
to think that you weren't memorable.

So, I played along and I asked them
lots of neutral questions

and I think that I convinced them

that I knew who they were

and that I remembered
about their life.

But, actually, I
didn't have a clue.

The scientists have learned that
Ruth often tells little white lies

and lies by omission to
be kind to other people.

So, they challenged her not to do
this during her week of honesty,

to study the effect it has.

Ruth's role as a parish priest
is one that's fraught with tension,

in terms of her relationship
with deception.

She's got to navigate being honest
to many people

who have put a lot of trust in her,

while also not
needlessly upsetting them, or

turning them away from the good work
that they're doing in the church.

How will she, and
those around her, cope

when that perceived
kindness is taken away?

Ruth is conducting her weekly
church committee meeting.

Good morning. Thank you.

I'm looking at the agenda for
this morning and, so far,

we have, "Looking at the worship for
the duration of March,"

and we are talking about what we're
going to do for our grand opening

of the building.

Are there any other items
you want to go on the agenda?

I don't think so. OK.

If we start with the
fun thing,

which is the worship in March,
I just want to...

We do have this concept about
speaking the truth to one another

in love, in order to
stop another person

going in a different direction,

or for the harmonious
relationships within the church.

I particularly,
as the parish priest,

have an obligation to do that.

So, I think we've arrived at

a fairly decent
consensus on everything,

so we'll just conclude with the
grace, unless...

Sam, you look like you
want to say something else.

Yes, I think, just a piece of AOB.

I think the standing committee
ought to have a brief report

on the situation on the gas.

I was about to conclude,

but then someone came in with
more any other business.

I wouldn't have really minded,

except that I'd asked at the
beginning of the meeting

what the agenda items were,

so that I could time the meeting
properly, get it finished on time.

As you know, the gas leak was
discovered finally last Friday

and that...they've
had to put a stop,

an emergency stop on the gas, so
we've had no heating since then.

So, I was quite irritated,
in a way, by that,

so I decided that it would be an
act of omission to ignore that.

I think it would be better
if in future, if...

If we, sort of, had all the
agenda items at the beginning,

you know, rather than some of
this stuff coming up at the end.

Whilst I do want to know
about the gas, it...

You know, I got a little bit
ambushed by stuff at the end.

I didn't like doing it,
I did feel uncomfortable.

I have great empathy with my people,

they work really hard and
sometimes they get things wrong.

But I had stated that was the way

I wanted meetings to run
and they'd forgotten.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ

and love of God in the Fellowship
of the Holy Spirit...

So I think, in the long run,
it'll probably be beneficial,

but I didn't like doing it.

Thank you, there we go.

Thank you.

Hello there, guys. My Uber is here.

How are you guys doing?
Today is day one of the...

Hi, it's me. OK...

Got to have an Uber this morning,
I mean this afternoon,

cos I've got work now.

Hi, you all right?

Sorry, don't mind me,
I'm talking to my camera.

I've got a project to do.

I think Ehiz will find his week
of living honestly difficult.

I think the embellishments and
exaggeration he includes

are so much part of him and his
storytelling, and who he is,

to remove those and to eliminate
them from every aspect of his life

will really mean
redefining who Ehiz is

and that's going to
be a real challenge.

OK, that's when the beat came in
and I had to keep quiet

because it was just...on another
level, it was just so cool.

The videos that I actually
do enjoy a lot is...

..making reaction videos to a song,

that maybe an artist may have,

you know, recently released.

The scientists want to study
the impact that lying has

on our society and, for Ehiz,

that means both his offline
and online personas.

Hey, yay.

ON VIDEO: I actually loved it.
Do you know what?

I'm literally just so much, I'm
too much. I'm honestly so much...

I laugh because it's so funny, you
know, just to see how comical I am.

Having created an exaggerated alter
ego of himself both online

and in the real world, what impact
will it have on Ehiz

to revert to complete honesty
for the first time in years?

Hello, guys it's me...

What you do post online

sometimes isn't all what
life is behind the camera.

I came up with this persona
called Jordan Banks.

That's not my
name, it's not my birth name,

but it's almost like an alter ego.

Having a hard time in secondary
school didn't help

and it got to a point where I didn't
even know, in myself,

what my identity was.

And it ended up leading to a
lot of depression you know.

Didn't talk to anybody,
had no friends.

But I've always had this persona to
give me a confidence boost

and it helped me in a really
big way because, you know,

every single time I thought about
Jordan Banks, his life was perfect,

you know. He had friends,
he had money,

he had everything

and I always look towards
that as motivation.

One of the things about Ehiz is
he's a very creative individual.

It is interesting, though,
to think about what we call

the "dark side" of creativity.

People who are particularly
creative can lie more,

can be more inclined to choose a
slightly more creative moral route,

let's say, which I think
is really interesting.

Even just suggesting
creativity to people,

one of the ways in
which they then start

to exploit that is by
being more deceptive.

The scientists don't hear much
from Ehiz for a few days,

and then they get this.

I was meant to go into work today,
but I called in sick.

Yeah...

It's not going to happen. Um...

I feel like

it's going to affect the
experiment in a big way

because I'm trying to use this week
as much as possible

to live as truthfully as possible

and I'm restricted
from doing that today

because of my illness.

100% honesty may be proving
too much for Ehiz.

Introvert advertising exec Mo,
on the other hand,

is taking to the idea of telling
people what she really thinks,

rather than saying,
"Yes," when she means, "No."

Are you going? Yeah.

So, I just told the truth
quite consciously, then.

We just saw a couple of
people and Sofia asked me,

"Do you want to stop and say hello?"

And normally I would have said,
"Yeah, sure, let's say hello."

This time I said,
"No, I don't, really."

But how will Mo cope in a
high-pressure work situation,

where she has to be assertive
to stick to the experiment?

What I want is to get these three
musicians - Maxine, Matthew...

Mo, I think has a lot of potential
for learning during this week.

I think she'll find it challenging,

but also I think she could find it
quite liberating,

as she begins to realise that,
actually, being more honest

has a lot of positive,
as well as negative, consequences.

Mo has a new commission
from the Musicians' Union.

First, she's filming some
social media content for them,

and then she's meeting
her client to discuss.

It might be a bit tricky
to navigate today

because I'm meeting
my client, Naomi.

When you have a new client,
you're generally trying to put

a good impression across, you know,

look like you're completely in
control, those kind of things,

and also we might be talking a
little bit about budget

and we're always really
transparent with costs,

but I just hope there's no
tricky questions around that.

Off to meet the new client.

I think we're on time. Good, yeah.

Thanks for meeting me, Naomi.
No worries.

Really excited
about kicking this off.

So, did you want to
show me some stuff?

Yeah, this is all the video.
Just little moments, like this.

MUSIC BLARES
I'll turn it down...

They were just getting
their instruments out.

It sounds good, even though they're
just warming up, doesn't it? Yeah.

In terms of format, has that been
discussed on your side?

There might be a possibility
of making a connection

with a cinema chain and actually
getting some cinema ads,

so do you think we
might be able to do that

with the footage
that we've got or...?

Well, I think...
I think it's a great idea.

There's a slight change in request
for the content we're doing

to be maybe made for a cinema,
when it was always for social.

That wasn't in the original brief.

Normally, I'd be like, "Yes, yes,
yes," cos that's client service

but I'm trying to be
as honest as I can.

I think, you know,
with cinema in mind,

I probably would have done
it slightly differently,

or we would have set it up...

I think I need to go away
and have a think about it

but, at the moment, it's not set up

to be, sort of, displayed
on the cinema screen.

It would have budgetary
implications.

It WOULD have budgetary
implications, yeah.

It felt good being a bit
more... Clearer, I suppose,

but there were definite
moments where I was like,

"Ooh, I'm being a bit fluffy,"
I think.

And I don't think that was good for
her or me, so it wasn't ideal.

In a bid to study how and why
we lie in our normal lives,

this experiment is pushing

all of our subjects out
of their comfort zone.

Cheers. Nice to see you.

Mo meets best friend
Alice and partner Sofia

to discuss how she's
finding the experience.

So, how did the meeting
go this morning?

I think I probably wasn't as direct
as I could have been, in terms

of going, "Well, that wasn't
in the original scope."

What was it that makes
you not do it, you know?

Because in that moment,
what's the first thing

that happens in your head?
I just want to please them.

Yeah. I want to accommodate them
as a new client

and make them feel
reassured and happy.

If this was the old me,

or if this was before this week,

I wouldn't have even
tried to be more direct.

No. So, do you think that
that is a shift?

Yeah. You're much more aware of when
you're being honest and you're not,

but you haven't quite tipped
into consistently being honest.

I want to be more.

I just... Have to find a
way you feel comfortable.

Yeah. I suppose so.
I don't want to...

Yeah.

Are you all right? Yeah.

Oh, no...

Oh, what's so hard?

Don't know.

I just don't want to feel like I'm
going around being fake

and having fake relationships,

and putting on a front in a way
that's, like, disingenuous.

And do you think you're doing that?

I don't think I am.

I don't think I am, but if I'm not
been totally direct

then maybe I am, you know.

Best friend Alice has
known Mo for 20 years.

I don't think that she inherently
feels that who she really is

is a totally OK thing
to show the world.

There is such a fear of being
told that she is wrong

or being inappropriate in any way,

and I do think that
it's holding her back,

actually, from, kind
of, proper happiness.

You know, I'm halfway
through on day four.

But I don't think I've fully,
full throttle, you know,

been to be truthful and honest.

I don't think I have done that yet.

Yeah, I'm getting a bit upset
but I think it's more like...

It's quite a deep, in a way.

is her weekly school assembly.

So, Ruth, we see lies by omission.

It's a common thing many of us do.

At assembly, I want to give genuine
feedback to the children.

Maybe me just smiling
and saying, "Ooh, yes,

"that's nice," doesn't help the
children to learn and grow.

The story we're going to have today
is called The Boy Who Cries Wolf.

That will be quite difficult
because you don't want to hurt the

children's feelings and you do
need to be really careful.

Do you think the boy
found it easier to cry wolf

the first time,

the second time, or the third time?

I think the first one was easy
because they actually believed you,

cos it was the first
time you shouted it.

Now, I think you're
answering a question

that is different to the
question I'm asking.

I think what I did differently in
the assembly was that

I was less affirming of the answers

that weren't giving me
what I was hoping

the question would deliver.

What do you think this means?

"What do you do makes
you who you are."

Well, what you normally
do is the best thing

to what you should do

because what you normally do
is being yourself, so yeah.

OK, so you think...

That's not quite what I meant,

but it's a good thought, isn't it?

But the children need to know that,
whilst your thought was interesting,

it wasn't exactly what I was looking
for and maybe if you'd listen to

the question a bit more carefully,

you would have come up with the
answer that I was looking for.

If everyone was the same
and told the same lies,

and everything like that, the world
would be a pretty boring place.

If everybody was different.

If everybody was the same,
it would be boring.

But that's not what I meant either.

Who's blowing the candles out?

It didn't seem to upset anybody.

The children were happy enough and
I had been sufficiently affirming.

Honesty is a tricky thing to define.

Clearly, there are some things where

we are being deliberately dishonest
when we are answering a question

with a fib, which is clearly not
true and then there's clear truth,

where we're being absolutely
honest and telling

the person everything.
In that grey middle area,

is this notion of things like
omissions, where we leave out

information that might be wanted,
but also the notion that if I tell

you everything that comes into
my mind, every single detail,

that seems to go a little bit
beyond the notion of truth.

So, do you think that not telling
somebody something is a lie,

You omit to tell them something.

Ruth and her husband Andrew are
still struggling with the question

of exactly how far she should
go with telling the whole truth.

So, you're being really annoying,

asking me to take your shoe on and
off on and off, do I have to say,

in order to be truthful,

"This is really annoying, Andrew,
taking your shoe on and off?"

Or do I just keep it to myself?

We're not fighting.
We have discovered a robust area

of disagreement, that's all.

Andrew thinks she should go
further with her truth telling.

By omitting to say something, do you
actually improve this situation?

So, every time that I'm finding it
frustrating,

every time I'm finding it annoying,

every time you've done
something that I think

is a bit embarrassing
or you've said something

to somebody that I wish you hadn't,
every time you do that,

if I think that, I'm to tell you?

Yeah. It won't make any difference.

I think we'll get divorced.
It won't make any difference.

I want you to concentrate on doing
lies of omission

and not telling me things
that I don't want to hear,

so I don't want to know if my dress
isn't as good as it was yesterday.

Because I think that's just rude.

I think volunteering information

that people don't ask for
and don't want is rude.

Each participant, by the end of this
week, seems to have a notion

of where to draw the line, in terms
of honesty being the best policy,

so Ruth has said, "I'm very happy
to lie

"when it's for the benefit of
others. I'm really not happy to lie

"when it's for my own benefit,
or unnecessary."

So she's drawn a line
in the sand there and

I hope she continues
to stick to that line.

So, today is the last day and here
is me taking the truth watch off

for the last time and
hoping that its effects

are going to be long-lasting

and that my conscience is now
as sensitive as the watch.

Good morning, guys.

Well, no, good afternoon, really.

After calling in sick to the
experiment for a few days,

Ehiz is back in touch.

The scientists have challenged him

to make a totally
authentic video blog,

without exaggeration and
embellishment.

But for Ehiz, the challenge of
living truthfully

has proven too much.

This week, it has tested me a lot.

It has tested me
in many, many areas.

But making a YouTube video,
being quite truthful,

it wasn't going to work out.

It just wasn't going to happen.

I don't feel like my viewers would
necessarily connect to that,

as I would have wanted them to.

What's new with you?

This week, yeah, it's just been...

It's been quite stressful.

How so? Because obviously, I
was ill for the first two days.

Best friend Countessa wants
to check up on his progress.

Would you say that Jordan
Banks is kind of a lie?

No. For example, if I was to do,
like, a story time on YouTube,

for example, and
I'm over exaggerating.

You wouldn't necessarily feel like,
"He's a liar,"

cos you're so caught up and immersed
in what's going on.

OK, so it's not a lie? No. It's a
deception. It's a deception. Wow!

When you compare the
word deception and lie,

are they not ever so slightly
similar? Do they not cross paths?

With deceptions, you don't
necessarily feel you're lying,

until you properly like think
about it, whereas with lying,

it's almost like guilt.

You feel guilt. But with deceptions,
in regards to Jordan Banks,

it's always part of me.

So, for Ehiz, deception isn't lying.

He's found a way of
justifying his lies

and is choosing to stick with it.

I feel like he was using
Jordan Banks as a crutch

and I feel like
he's...been struggling.

He's been struggling to keep
the persona and be truthful.

I feel like this is an act.

I feel like it's a facade.

He's a scam. It's a scam!

He's potentially finding this quite
difficult

because there is a deceptive
component to this alter ego

that he has, and I think he
slips into it quite readily.

Which raises the idea that maybe
deception is a slippery slope.

What we see is that people start
to do it more, as they get more

opportunity to do it, but also it
takes less of an emotional toll,

if you like, so basically it gets
easier to lie as you move on.

So, I think very realistically,
if it becomes central to your

character, then, yeah, it
could become all-consuming.

Hi, Mum and Dad!

Hello.

What's this? Mo spent most of her
20s not being completely honest

with her family about her sexuality,

so wants to tell them
all about the experiment.

Do you think you'll
see any changes in me

after doing this week
of truthfulness?

Like what?

Can you see that, yeah?

So, do you reckon you're
going to keep it up, like,

trying to be more honest and direct?

I think I am going to try
and keep it up because,

even though I don't think I was
entirely successful this week, um,

the times I was a bit more truthful,
a bit more focused on being honest,

I got really good results.

What I found amazing about Mo's
behaviour this week

is that she's almost on a
high of all the brave moments

that she had where she told

the truth and actually was getting
very positive things of it,

and that's something that, in
research,

we actually never really consider.

What happens when we're truthful
rather than deceptive?

Because I think, in research,
we assume people are truthful

most of the time and
we focus on deception,

but actually this week has shown me
that people are quite deceptive,

actually, a lot of the time.

The experiment is over.

It has provided a
myriad of new data.

And surprising scientific insights
into just how deeply ingrained

lying is into our behaviour.

We've seen people lie automatically,

or drop into deception
just by force of habit.

Do you necessarily recognise
when you're doing that?

This is the first time lying in
our normal lives has been studied

in such depth, and the results on
just how much we lie have defied

all previous expectations.

One of the big conclusions I'll take
from this experiment is potentially

the fact that people
are under-reporting

the number of lies they tell.

Yeah, they were fine.
They were fine, yeah.

The one thing that I've learned
is that we're all so much more

dishonest than we think we are.

Obviously, you do know, at times...

I think this week's experiment has
shown that lying is a fundamental

part of being human.

The data has shown that even
the most devout of us

lie on a daily basis.

But is all this lying bad for us?

I think I've learned that I am an
ordinary person

and that I'm not
spectacularly honest

and that I'm not
spectacularly dishonest.

We have to lie sometimes to get what
we want and sometimes lying actually

does help make things better.

We often have this black and white
view that lying is a terrible thing,

when it's quite clear when
watching all of the participants'

lives and there are times when
they've felt that lying was a very

appropriate thing
to do for the social glue.

When you have a certain job and
whether that's being a priest, or

whether that is being a consultant
and having to talk to people about

their projects and their companies,
as the role you play for your

job, you often can't be honest
because people will be so offended.

They probably don't want to watch,
or listen to you any more.

This ground-breaking experiment has
given scientists a unique glimpse

at what a world
without lying might look like,

but is this a world
we'd want to live in?

There are some really nasty
lies that go on out there,

so ridding the world of scams
and ridding the world of cheating

spouses and things
might be a positive,

but no, I think the world would be
a darker place, potentially, without

some of the more pro-social
and positive sides of deception.

I think lying is pretty fundamental
to human nature, in the sense that

a society without lying is probably
a less successful one.

Can we live in a
world without lying?

I'm not sure we could

and I'm certainly sure
that we wouldn't want to.