We Cannot Tell a Lie (for the most part)

John McRae

"Father, I Can Not Tell a Lie; I Cut the Tree"

1867 engraving after a painting by G.G. White

Link to PsyBlog post, "Can You Trust a Facebook Profile?" (via Techdirt)

Excerpt: After comparing the actual personalities with the idealised and observed, the researchers found that, on average, people were much more likely to display their real personality on the social networking sites rather than their idealised selves.

Overall people were remarkably honest in representing themselves. People were honest—we don't read those words often enough.

The study is based on a small, narrow sample -- 235 U.S. and German students. To Retiring Guy's mind, that's a lotta extrapolatin' -- but what does he know?