Deception

Assessment | Biopsychology | Comparative | Cognitive | Developmental | Language | Individual differences | Personality | Philosophy | Social |
Methods | Statistics | Clinical | Educational | Industrial | Professional items | World psychology |

Social psychology: Altruism · Attribution · Attitudes · Conformity · Discrimination · Groups · Interpersonal relations · Obedience · Prejudice · Norms · Perception · Index · Outline

---

Deception is the act of convincing another to believe information that is not true.

Deception involves concepts like propaganda, distraction and concealment.

In many cases it is difficult to distinguish deception from providing unintentionally wrong information. One of the reasons for this is that a person or an entire organization may be self-deceived.

Dissimulation

Dissimulation consists of concealing the truth, or in the case of half-truths, concealing parts of the truth, like inconvenient or secret information. There are three dissimulation techniques: camouflage (blend into the background), disguise appearance (altering the model) and dazzle (obfuscate the model).

Camouflage

File:Young red necked wallaby.jpg

This wallaby has adaptive colouration which allows it to blend with its environment

The camouflage of a physical object often works by breaking up the visual boundary of that object. This usually involves colouring the camouflaged object with the same colours as the background against which the object will be hidden. In the realm of deceptive half-truths camouflage is realized by 'hiding' some of the truths.

See also: glittering generalities and transfer within the techniques of propaganda generation

Example:

• Camouflage as a form of visual deception is an essential part of military deception.

Disguise appearance

A disguise is an appearance to create the impression of being somebody or something else; for a well-known person this is also called incognito.

n a more abstract sense, 'disguise' may refer to the act of disguising the nature of a particular proposal in order to hide an unpopular motivation or effect associated with that proposal. This is a form of political spin or propaganda. See also: rationalisation and transfer within the techniques of propaganda generation.

Example:

• Depicting an act of war as a "peace" mission.

Dazzle

For a parallel in popular media, see Media manipulation#Distraction by phenomenon and Distraction by phenomenon.

Examples:

• The defensive mechanisms of most octopuses to eject black ink in a large cloud to aid in escape from predators.

Simulation

Simulation consists of exhibiting false information. There are three simulation techniques: mimicry (copying another model), fabrication (making up a new model), and attraction (offering an alternative model)

Mimicry

In the biological world, mimicry involves unconscious deception by similarity to another organism, or to a natural object. Animals for example may deceive predators or prey by visual, auditory or other means.

Fabricate

To make something that in reality is not what it appears to be. For example, in World War II, it was common for the Allies to use hollow tanks made out of cardboard to fool German reconnaissance planes into thinking a large armor unit was on the move in one area while the real tanks were well hidden and on the move in a location far from the fabricated "dummy" tanks.

Distractions

To get someone's attention from the truth by offering bait or something else more tempting to divert attention away from the object being concealed. For example, a security company publicly announces that it will ship a large gold shipment down one route, while in reality take a different route.

See also

Academic dishonesty Betrayal Cheating Communications deception Confabulation Confidence trick Deception (evolutionary computation) Dishonesty Faking False accusations False confessions Fraud Hoax

Interpersonal deception theory Lie List of topics related to public relations and propaganda Malingering Media manipulation Media transparency Military deception Misdirection Phishing Placebo (origins of technical term) Plagerism Propaganda

Psychological warfare Secrecy Selectivity Sincerity Spin (public relations) Simulated reality Social engineering

References

• Cohen, Fred. (2006). Frauds, Spies, and Lies and How to Defeat Them, ASP Peess. ISBN 1-878109-36-7.
• Latimer, Jon. (2001). Deception in War, John Murray. ISBN 978-0719556050.
• Behrens, Roy R. (2002). FALSE COLORS: Art, Design and Modern Camouflage, Bobolink Books. ISBN 0-9713244-0-9.
• Bennett, W Lance; Entman, Robert M The Politics of Misinformation
• Blechman, Hardy and Newman, Alex (2004). DPM: Disruptive Pattern Material, DPM Ltd. ISBN 0-9543404-0-X.
• Edelman, Murray Constructing the political spectacle 1988
• Bruce Schneier, Secrets and Lies
• Robert Wright The Moral Animal: Why We Are the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology. Vintage, 1995. ISBN 0-679-76399-6

Further reading

• Mitchell, Robert W.; Thompson, Nicholas S., eds., Deception. Perspectives on Human and Nonhuman Deceit. New York: State University of New York Press