Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Teaching kids to be better liars

Ars Technica reports:
An unexpected side-effect of a selfless kid? They may become better liars
Helping kids develop a theory of mind may have some unsettling outcomes.

Theory of mind is the ability to understand that other people have beliefs, feelings, and experiences different from your own. According to a new study published in Psychological Science, children who are trained to consider these concepts gain the ability to partake in the complex thinking required to lie to another for personal gain.
Yes, of course teaching theory of mind is almost the same as teaching lying. I don't know why the article says "unexpected". What else would anyone expect?

The people with the best understanding of others' minds are the psychopaths who use that to manipulate others.

Perhaps people think that empathy is good, so teaching kids empathy will make them better. But there is plenty of evidence that empathy is bad, and leads to bad behavior.

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