Giulia Romano Cappi

And that gray area is where our participants found themselves.

Like, yeah, you're lying, but you're also telling the truth to yourself, to the other.

So there's a theory there that it's an evolutionary skill behavior that we have because it helped us survive, or at least it helped our ancestors to survive.

So, you know, we all like to be liked, no?

Everybody likes that.

We are social creatures, we like to be perceived in a positive way, and nobody likes a liar.

On one side, nobody likes a liar, but everybody likes a winner, someone that is good at everything.

So if I'm not actually good at something, I will lie about being good.

But if I lie, I will sweat.

And if I sweat, then you will catch me.

And so that's bad, no?

We don't want to be detected.

that will bring us to exclusion, social exclusion.

We don't want that.

So the theory is that it's an adaptive behavior that we had, evolutionarily speaking.

I don't know.

So I think partly yes.

If you're a spy in the 80s and you're trying not to be caught by the enemy, maybe you will be trained

to not show any sign.

They call it the telltale signs.