Compared with most animals, we
humans engage in a host of behaviors that are destructive to our own kind and
to ourselves. We lie, cheat and steal, carve ornamentations into our own
bodies, stress out and kill ourselves, and of course kill others. Science has
provided much insight into why an intelligent species seems so nasty, spiteful,
self-destructive and hurtful.
1. Lie
Nobody knows for sure why humans
lie so much, but studies find that it's common, and that it's often tied to
deep psychological factors. "It's tied in with self-esteem," says University of Massachusetts psychologist Robert
Feldman. "We find that as soon as people feel that their self-esteem is