The physiology of (dis)honesty: does it impact health?

Section snippets
The physiological experience of engaging in (dis)honesty
Some people live virtuous lives. They donate their precious time to charity, tell the truth, remain loyal to friends, faithful to spouses, and pay their taxes as expected. Other people live very different lives
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they take charity when they do not need or deserve it, they lie, cheat, exploit, and steal. While there are some ‘bad apples’ in the world, what modern science tells us is that the road to dishonesty boils down to features of the situation and features of the decision [1, 2••]. The
(Dis)honesty in the brain
Recent advancements in technology have allowed researchers to measure activity in the brain when it is engaging in a dishonest act. Along the temporal continuum from anticipation to retrospective memory, evidence suggests there are some functional MRI differences between the brains of dishonest versus honest actors. For example, as a lie is just starting to take shape and before it is uttered, the …