Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Deceit is part and parcel of daily life. It not only frequents news headlines in conjunction with political chicanery, corporate scandals, campus cheating, telemarketing scams, identity theft, online predators, and terrorist plots but also permeates the fabric of everyday conversation (→  Deception in Discourse ). People who complete diaries of their communication report 20 to 33 percent of their interactions include some form of deceit and they average two lies per day ( DePaulo et al. 1996 ; Hancock et al. 2004 ). Biologically, deception is regarded as adaptive, as a part of natural selection that improves chances of survival for animals that are most successful at it. Thus, deceit is not limited to humans. Other species have developed very sophisticated forms of deception ranging from camouflage and mimicry to misdirection, bluffing, and hiding of resources. Definitions of deception vary but most emphasize that it is an intentional act in which senders knowingly transmit messages intended to foster false beliefs or conclusions by recipients ( Knapp & Comadena 1979 ). Self-delusions are excluded, as are mistaken representations or role-playing in which the audience willingly suspends disbelief. This definition broadens the scope of the concept beyond outright lies to include such forms as omissions, intentional ambiguity, evasions, exaggerations, and the like. Human deception ... log in or subscribe to read full text