Researchers have explored another facet of our complex relationship with truth. If someone’s actions have produced a mildly adverse outcome, truthfully emphasizing the control he had—“Think how much worse things could have been, good thing you had control”—blunts his stress response. But if someone’s actions have produced a disastrous outcome, untruthfully emphasizing the opposite—“No one could have stopped the car in time, the way that child darted out”—can be deeply humane. The truth can even be life-threatening. Someone teetering on the edge of death in an ER, 90 percent of their body
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