When you talk to your friends and co-workers, do you lie to them frequently?

A new study finds 60 percent of people lie two or three times during a typical 10-minute conversation.

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(Antony McAulay, ThinkStock)
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According to University of Massachusetts psychologist Robert Feldman, most people he has studied don't even realize they’re lying until they view a video of the conversation that just had with someone.

Feldman found women tend to lie in order to make the person they’re speaking with feel better, while men lie most of the time to try and make themselves look better.

Some Mercer County shoppers admit they lie all the time, while others insist they only tell the truth.

“I try not to lie, but I mean if it’s getting me out of trouble maybe I’ll lie,” said Nick of Somerville.

Another shopper said “I don’t think I lie, I see white and I see black and I don’t even see gray in between, I don’t. I love my age, I love life, there’s nothing to lie about!”

Julie from Hamilton said sometimes the small lies that are told aren't "mean-spirited."

“It depends on the topic, if it’s disagreeing or something, instead of hurting their feelings it’s like yeah, okay, that’s great, you know what I mean? But it’s not mean spirited,” she said.

Her friend chimed in saying, “sometimes I may say something was more fun than it actually was, so its over emphasizing, I wouldn’t really call it lying.”

When asked if he lied, a young man jokingly said, “I probably would lie to my wife about money or where I was with my friends.”

Some shoppers became flustered by the question.

“Oh I can’t answer that,” said one woman grinning. “I’m just not in a place where I can really even think about that!”

“I lie a couple of times but I lie to make people happy, I mean I don’t want to tell them something...like if they’re unhappy, I’m going to try and make them happy,” said another shopper.

A man standing nearby said “oh geez, I don’t know, I mean I guess I just kind of hide things too. I feel like to make other people feel better I suppose, I don’t want to be too brutally honest all the time, you know."

Sally from Ewing said “I don’t blatantly try to lie, they’ll make fun of me and say I lie about timing, I’ll be oh I’ll be there in 10 minutes and I’m there in like 20 minutes, but I don’t really think that’s a lie, is it?”

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