I made the point yesterday that it seems we are inclined towards disbelieving denials: when an allegation is leveled at someone, we are more likely to side instinctively with the accuser than the accused.  I find it interesting how often this very issue comes up in the Bible – and the prominence of false accusations in Scripture should definitely give us pause when we are tempted to jump to conclusions of guilt. Although one could argue that the first false accusation in Scripture comes out of the mouth of the serpent in the opening chapters of Genesis, I am wanting…

Sociologists agree that humans tend to have a “truth bias” – a strong, inherent willingness to believe that others are telling us the truth. We are easily duped.  Now I don’t have any empirical data to back this up, but it seems to me that there is one occasion where we definitely tend towards an “untruth bias”: Denials.  For some reason, we seem inclined to treat most denials as lies.  For a good recent example, recall the moment a few months ago when Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle made international news by telling Oprah Winfrey that the Royal…

Here’s something I heard on a podcast recently about the word “priority”: originally it was never used as a plural. There was no such thing as “priorities”.  I have no idea if this is true, but it makes sense logically. “Priority” means “coming before” or “first in rank or importance”. Ultimately, only ONE priority is possible. Only one thing can be THE most important. All other considerations can be ranked in descending order of importance, but they cannot technically be called “priorities”.  This would be a good thing to keep in mind when considering this commandment from Jesus in Matthew…

Maybe it’s a result of our truth bias – that we just don’t notice the lies around us. Maybe it’s our tendency to minimize our own sins. But it seems to me that we underestimate the gravity of lying as a sin.  The Bible has some serious, serious warnings against lying found throughout both the Old and New Testaments. God does not take lying lightly.  Proverbs 6:16-19 well represents God’s attitude towards lies as well as some of the other sinful behaviors He associates with lying: “There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty…

Here’s another psychological phenomenon that has fascinated me since I became aware of it this past year: Truth Bias. In essence, we all think we have a built in truth detector. We are certain we could recognize the “tells” in the face of a liar – the inability to look us in the eye, a telltale smirk, or a bit of sweat on the brow.  In reality, we are unduly predisposed towards believing other people and absolutely lousy at picking up on lies.  I guess that makes sense. In order for society to function, we can’t be questioning every little…

The “habit loop” described by Charles Duhigg in The Power of Habit holds the key to breaking free from bad habits. Do you find yourself regularly repeating some routine behavior even though you recognize it as entirely undesirable – because it is unhealthy, dangerous, embarrassing, wasteful or expensive?  The key to breaking free, according to Duhigg and behavioral scientists, lies not so much in willpower as in understanding two things: 1) What cue triggers the routine? And 2) What reward does the routine deliver? Both require some degree of introspection and discernment, but number 1 might be a bit easier…