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Lie-free life is possible says Christian psychologist, amid new research

Behaviour analyst Louise Kadayer spoke as a fresh study by University College London (UCL) suggested negative emotional reactions caused by lying may decrease over time as the brain becomes desensitised.

Speaking on Premier's News Hour, she said: "The Bible is just very, very clear and actually science is just catching up with the Bible to tell us that we can take our thoughts captive.

"We often in this generation think we are controlled by addiction or behaviours ...and actually that's not quite true."

"If we look at the function of why we're saying something or thinking something than, yes, it is possible to live a lie-free life, especially if those around us do and provide a good example.

The findings, published in the Nature Neuroscience journal, concluded activity in the amygdala - a part of the brain associated with emotional response - was reduced as lying increased.

Tali Sharot, an associate professor of cognitive neuroscience, said: "Think about it like perfume. You buy a new perfume, and it smells strongly. A few days later, it smells less. And a month later, you don't smell it at all."

Experts gave volunteers the opportunity to lie to other participants in the study about the number of pennies in a jar, and offered them an incentive to be dishonest.

Individuals convinced they were benefiting from a lie were more likely to be dishonest, and the scale of the lies escalated over time, the team at UCL found.

Louise Kadayer added: "If that behaviour is reinforced, it's repeated and over time it will increase in frequency and it will also increase in intensity. That's exactly the same with any behaviour we engage in, even ...our thoughts.

"Any behaviour that we repeat and that's reinforced - it's successful in some way or we're not unpunished for it - we'll repeat. That's why children might scream with one parent when they want a biscuit but not with another."

Click here to listen to Louise Kadayer speaking with Premier's Alex Williams:

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