According to The Guardian, a new study indicates that even telling a white lie can desensitize the brain to dishonesty and that lying “gradually feels more comfortable over time.”
American fraudster Frank Abagnale, played by Leonardo DiCaprio in the filmCatch Me If You Can, started out swindling his father out of small change for date money and ended up impersonating an airline pilot, despite the admission that he “couldn’t fly a kite”.
Now scientists have uncovered an explanation for why telling a few porkies has the tendency to spiral out of control. The study suggests that telling small, insignificant lies desensitises the brain to dishonesty, meaning that lying gradually feels more comfortable over time.