誠實為上策?

昨天上網看到一篇新聞, 我就在想: 為何我爸媽從小就要我當個老實人且不要說謊...

小孩說謊不要罵, 長大有希望變CEO.

小孩子說謊，做父母的該不該禁止？根據最新的研究顯示，孩子如果越小學會說謊，長大之後就越可能當上CEO。
加拿大研究單位公佈一項研究報告，顯示要求孩子誠實，根本就是不可能的事，而且小孩如果越小學會說謊，就代表他的「執行力」越強。根據統計，從2歲左右就開始說謊的，約佔2成，而這些小孩，未來有很大的機會成為企業的高級主管。
這項研究報告，或許不能作為家長管教孩子的依據，但也提供了一個不同的思考方向，或許下次發現小孩說謊，父母可以以灌輸正向思考，向孩子說明誠實的好處，來取代打罵教育。

靠...還有這種事...Orz
不過, 根據以往的經驗, 台灣記者常常在外電翻譯上有斷章取義的情形, 還是找看看其他資料好了, 好在PTT網友提供了外電原文.

Trust me, telling fibs is sure sign of success.

    The five-year-old girl in the laboratory test was told not to turn round to see what soft toy was behind her. However, once her adult minder left on the excuse of taking a telephone call, she swivelled her head to look at Barney, a cuddly purple dinosaur.
    When asked minutes later she denied peeking but said she thought it was Barney behind her. How did she know? "Well, God came into the room and whispered in my ear."
    Little children who tell such big fibs should not be a worry for parents. Scientists have discovered that a child who claims "the dog ate my homework" may have a future career in the City. Researchers who carried out a study of 1,200 children say the fact that a child has learnt to tell a lie shows they have reached an important step in their mental development.
    A majority of the human guinea pigs aged two to 16 told porkies but it is the children with better cognitive abilities who can tell the best lies. They have developed "executive functioning", which means they are able to keep the truth at the back of their mind so their fib sounds more convincing.
    At the age of two, 20% of children will lie. This rises to 50% by three and almost 90% at four. Parents of troublesome youths may not be surprised that the curve peaks at the age of 12 when almost all of them will be deceitful. The tendency starts to fall away by the age of 16, when it is 70%.
    As adulthood approaches, young people learn instead to use the less harmful "white lies" that everyone tells to avoid hurting people's feelings.
    Researchers say there is no link between telling fibs in childhood and any tendency to cheat in exams or to become a fraudster later in life. Nor does strict parenting or a religious upbringing have any impact.
    Healthy, intelligent children learn to lie quicker, but parents have to learn to distinguish between the harmless makebelieve — such as an imaginary friend — and the fibs told to protect or better the child.
    There is a "Pinocchio peak" about the age of seven after which it is hard to discern whether a boy or girl is lying without evidence.
    Kang Lee, director of the Institute of Child Study at Toronto University, which carried out the research, said: "You have to catch this period and use the opportunity as a teachable moment".
    "You shouldn't smack or scream at your child but you should talk about the importance of honesty and the negativity of lying. After the age of eight the opportunities are going to be very rare."
    The research team invited younger children — one at a time — to sit in a room with hidden cameras. A soft toy was placed behind them.
    When the researcher briefly left the room, the children were told not to look. In nine out of 10 cases cameras caught them peeking. But when asked if they had looked, they almost always said no. They tripped themselves up when asked what they thought the toy might be. One little girl asked to place her hand underneath a blanket that was over the toy before she answered the question. After feeling the toy but not seeing it, she said: "It feels purple so it must be Barney."
    Lee, who caught his son Nathan, 3, looking at the toy, said: "We even had cameras trained on their knees because we thought their legs would fidget if they were telling a lie, but it isn't true."
    Older children were set a test paper but were told they must not look at the answers printed on the back.
    Some of the questions were easy, such as who lives in the White House. But the children who looked at the back gave the printed answer "Presidius Akeman" to the bogus question "Who discovered Tunisia?" When asked how they knew this, some said they learnt it in a history class.
    Joan Freeman, professor of lifelong learning at Middlesex University in London and the author of How to Raise a Bright Child, said: "Clever children are going to be better at lying. Most youngsters grow out of lying if it is not an acceptable part of their culture. But if you are running a business when you grow up you might want to get away with something — and not telling the whole truth is on the edge of morality."
    Margaret McAllister, a leading educational psychologist, said: "Just because a child is bright I don't think they are more likely to lie. But if they do, they will lie better and tell more complicated lies."

那位Dr. Kang Lee是左岸人士, 個人網頁在此.

果然, 台灣記者下了一個聳動的標題, 內文翻譯又哩哩剌剌...
後來發現這篇翻譯比較好: 啥米! 小時撒謊, 長大易當CEO.

我很喜歡跟小孩子一起玩, 像是堂(表)弟妹或是堂(表)兄姊的小孩(至少小我10歲...), 也會注意和觀察他們, 所以他們扯謊時就幾乎都會被抓包, 然後被告誡, 我想他們應該都不太敢再扯謊吧! (家訓: 小孩子初次做錯無妨, 自首無罪, 抓到雙倍...XD)
長輩們應該為此感到欣慰, 但我希望他們以後不要因為沒當到CEO就來找我算帳啊...囧

不過最讓我感到心有戚戚焉的是原文最後一段的這句:

When you grow up you might want to get away with something — and not telling the whole truth is on the edge of morality.

這件事就真的是學問跟藝術了...

事例一:
我在找國防役時, 被詢問關於coding? 回答"沒有很好或是這並非我擅長的部份", 都沒有錄取...Orz, 回答"算是OK, 作業/報告都會用到", 就錄取軟體工程師...XD
在面試這短短的幾十分鐘內, 如果用負面表列或是消極的用語回答問題(常常是不自覺), 會讓對方感到不夠積極且自信不足, 不少的詢問都可能在旁敲側擊(不只是表面上的問題). 千萬別把自己是A講成B, 這是笨蛋的行為, 把A稍微說滿到A+也沒關係, 而且面試主管也不是那麼好騙...

事例二:
我把"我先跟主管說我對現在工作沒太大興趣, 想轉換跑道, 才去外面找機會"的這件事跟少數親友說, 結果他們的反應都是: "你幹麻這麼老實, 你白吃啊, %^#@... (下略三百字)"

事例三:
親友提醒: "你去外面找機會時, 千萬不要跟對方說你已經跟現在主管提要走了, 這樣對方會覺得你沒退路, 於是壓低你的身價..."

這...Orz, 我沒想當CEO啊! 為何在江湖上行走, 還要戴著一個個面具呢? (有論點說這是"人格面具", 覆蓋在被迫露出在外面的意識層上, 防止自我受到攻擊或傷害.)

不管帶著多少面具, 還是要誠實面對自己的內心啊!