>>Scholars have defined deception in many different ways, but they generally agree that
it entails deliberately inducing in another a belief the deceiver knows is false. The
communicator's intention is important because an act can be classified as "deceptive" if
the person tries to give a false impression, regardless of whether the recipient of the
communication is actually fooled. You should also know that I use the words lies and deception
interchangeably even though they might have slightly different connotations. So let's
break down the definition a little more cause there are really five components to it:
First of all, there must be a deliberate attempt (or it must be intentional).
Second, it can be factual or emotional, you can lie about your feelings or emotions or
you can lie about a fact that you know and tell someone something that is false.
Third, it can be expressed verbally or nonverbally, you can lie with your words or you can just
lie with your face or your actions. It can be successful or unsuccessful. In other
words you can lie and get away with it, or you can lie and not get away with it, and
we would consider both of those deception. And the fifth aspect of the definition, is
that the deceiver must consider it to be false. Consider the case of sarcasm, if you say something
that you know is a lie and the receiver knows it's a lie, too, then that really wouldn't
fall under the definition of deception.
There are many different types of deception and I am going to talk about just a few. Some
of these are described in the article by Judee Burgoon and David Buller in the list of suggested
readings included with this module. I will give you the sources for my information there,
and you can read more about these topics on your own.
The first type is what I call a fabrication. This is a complete lie that has not truth
to it at all. If you asked me if I have played any sports, and I told you I was a soccer
star, that would be a fabrication because I have never played soccer in my life. The
second type of lie is what I am going to call a half-truth. These are difficult to detect
because they might contain some elements of truth which makes them sound credible, perhaps
it has been embellished to sound better, and there are parts of the message that you are
not telling. Again, if you ask me if I have played any sports and I said I was a golfer,
that is the truth. But, I could embellish the truth by saying I played on my college
team or that I am the club champion of the course I play. Or if I really am the club
champion, I could minimize my accomplishment by shrugging and saying, "Yeah, I play golf
a bit."
The third type of deception is what Burgoon and Buller call an implicit falsification.
This is when you give a misleading answer without actually lying. Again, we consider
it to be deceptive even though no actual lie is told because the intent of the speaker
is to give a false impression. Think about all those weight loss ads you see on TV. They
show a piece of equipment or a weight loss supplement and imply that if you use their
product for just a few minutes a day, that you will look like this. This picture is probably
of models or exercise professionals who spend several hours a day working out and eat a
very nutritious diet. To suggest you can look like this by just exercising a few minutes
a day or taking a supplement is giving a false impression or an implicit falsification even
if they never make any promises.
The fourth type I will discuss is what is called an altruistic lie, or what Burgoon
and Buller call "Playings". This can include joking, teasing, kidding, tricking, bluffing,
and even hoaxes. Have you ever planned a surprise party for someone? You have to lie to them
in order to do it. Altruistic lies are those that are told for the benefit of someone else.
Like telling a friend they look great, even if they are feeling down and they don't really
think so.
These different types of deception also have different motives that lie behind them. We
lie for a lot of different reasons: To gain an advantage or avoid a punishment. Consider
why children lie. "My dog ate my homework" is meant to get someone out of trouble. We
also lie for psychological reasons like to avoid embarrassment. You might tell your boss
you have the flu when you oversleep through an important appointment because you don't
want to look incompetent. We might also lie to benefit others. These are the altruistic
lies we just covered. When asked why they lie to the people they are closest to, a study
by DePaulo and Kashy found that most people say that their lies are altruistic, their
lies are meant to protect their partners' feelings, build or maintain their partners'
self-esteem, show concern for their partners, and to help their partners attain their goals.
We might also lie to win the admiration from others. If I tell you that I'm a golf champion,
I might be trying to make myself look more skilled than I really am. We might also lie
to exercise power over others. In a study I did with a couple of colleagues comparing
the lies told by managers to those told by subordinates, we found that the managers often
withhold crucial information from their subordinates in order to display their power. For example,
one manager said that she had her subordinates working on an important project and didn't
tell them when the deadline had been extended. She wanted them to get finished on time, and
so she gave them a false deadline to make sure they met the real deadline. We might
also tell lies to maintain privacy, like giving a false name in an online chat room, if you
don't want your confidentiality to be broached by the others in the room.
We might lie to have fun. You might play a prank on someone or engage in a hoax to have
fun or gain notoriety. For example, Mark Knapp tells of the story in a 1995 film that aired
on Fox called Alien Autopsy. Many believed that the alien autopsy was real. It showed
what was purportedly an autopsy of a real alien found in the wreckage of a UFO that
crashed in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. It was sold to broadcast networks and shown in
over 32 countries. In 2006, the filmmaker came forward and admitted that the film was
a fake. He used canisters of old film to make it look old but it was a complete fabrication.
Other hoaxes like the creation of crop circles or the sightings of the Loch Ness Monster
have been harder to undo than the alien autopsy hoax, but they certainly achieved their goal
of making the hoaxers famous.
So we've discussed some definitions for deception, the different types of deception, and the
motives behind the deceptions that we engage in, but why should we really study deception?
What's the point of taking a class in deception detection? Every culture in the world places
a high value on honesty and trust. When you ask people to list their characteristics of
their ideal mate, trustworthiness is near the top of the list almost every time. And
yet, people use deception to get ahead, to gain an advantage in a competitive world,
and to impress people. It's a paradox that we simultaneously value honesty and yet reward
deceptiveness. Understanding human deception and the reasons behind it can help us learn
why people deceive, how to discourage deceptiveness and encourage ethical behavior, to catch liars
whenever we can.
Deception impacts every message we process because even when people are telling the truth,
we might think they are not. Credibility assessment is something that undergirds almost every
interaction we have. You need to understand deception in order to be a savvy consumer.
How do you know when a company is making false claims about a product? How do you trust the
messages that salespeople send? Consumer protection is an important reason to study deception
detection.
Also, we are in an institution of higher learning. The University is a place where people seek
knowledge and truth. And yet some surveys of undergraduates suggest that as many as
90% admit cheating at some point during their academic careers. You have heard stories of
professors faking their credentials or journalists plagiarizing the work of others. In order
for academia to maintain credibility as a place to seek truth and for researchers to
investigate the real answers to problems, it must also be a place for ethical communication.
Do you think there's a danger in teaching a course on deception? Aren't we just creating
better deceivers? What if people come to this class in order to become the perfect con artist?
There is always a risk that science will be used for evil. We'll be discussing this very
question as we discuss the ethical perspectives of deception and try to create an awareness
of the harms that deception can cause. I believe that being more critical of the message you
see and hear will help you understand deception better and be a better relationship partner,
a better student, a more discerning consumer, and a happier person. So use your powers for
good.