Why we lie : the evolutionary roots of deception and the unconscious mind / David Livingstone Smith.
Publisher: New York : Godalming : St. Martin's Griffin ; Melia [distributor], 2007Description: ix, 238 p. ; 21 cm001: 17466ISBN: 0312310404; 9780312310400Subject(s): Truthfulness and falsehood | Deception | Self-deception | SociobiologyDDC classification: 153.6Item type | Current library | Collection | Call number | Copy number | Status | Date due | Barcode | |
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Book | MAIN LIBRARY Book | 153.6 SMI (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | 1 | Available | 089607 |
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Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
Deceit, lying, and falsehoods lie at the very heart of our cultural heritage. Even the founding myth of the Judeo-Christian tradition, the story of Adam and Eve, revolves around a lie. Our seemingly insatiable appetite for stories of deception spans the extremes of culture from King Lear to Little Red Riding Hood, retaining a grip on our imaginations despite endless repetition. These tales of deception are so enthralling because they speak to something fundamental in the human condition. The ever-present possibility of deceit is a crucial dimension of all human relationships, even the most central: our relationships with our own selves.
Why We Lie elucidates the essential role that deception and self-deception have played in evolution and shows that the very structure of our minds has been shaped from our earliest beginnings by the need to deceive. Smith shows us how, by examining the stories we tell, the falsehoods we weave, and the unconscious signals we send out, we can learn much about ourselves and our minds.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents provided by Syndetics
- Acknowledgments (p. ix)
- Preface (p. 1)
- 1. Natural-Born Liars (p. 9)
- 2. Manipulators and Mind Readers (p. 29)
- 3. The Evolution of Machiavelli (p. 50)
- 4. The Architecture of the Machiavellian Mind (p. 79)
- 5. Social Poker (p. 104)
- 6. Hot Gossip (p. 122)
- 7. Machiavelli on the Couch (p. 148)
- 8. Conspiratorial Whispers and Covert Operations (p. 168)
- Coda: Descartes's Demon (p. 195)
- Appendix I Unconscious Creativity (p. 199)
- Appendix II Psychological Biases and Defense Mechanisms (p. 203)
- Notes (p. 207)
- Index (p. 233)
Excerpt provided by Syndetics
Reviews provided by Syndetics
Library Journal Review
According to one research study, people on average tell three lies for every 15 minutes of conversation. Smith (director, Inst. for Cognitive Science & Evolutionary Psychology) speculates that deception developed as an adaptive mechanism to ensure our survival and reproductive success. He offers examples of deception in the animal kingdom (e.g., camouflage and mimicry) as well as human interactions suggesting that our unconscious mind is driven to deceive others and ourselves. "Self deception," he argues, "lies at the core of our humanity" and functions as a tool for social manipulation. To bolster his argument, Smith draws on Darwin's theory of natural selection, kin altruism, and the basics of sociobiology. Admitting that his theory does not lend itself to experimental investigation, the author hopes that his book will encourage future research on the topic. Presenting an intriguing theory with skill and imagination, this is recommended for large public and academic libraries.-Laurie Bartolini, Illinois State Lib., Springfield (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.Publishers Weekly Review
According to Smith, deception lies so deeply at the heart of our existence that we often cannot distinguish truth from lies in our everyday lives. Deception, he writes, is pervasive as we manage how others perceive us, from using cosmetics to lying on a job application; it is "more often spontaneous and unconscious than cynical and coldly analytical." In this superficial investigation of the biology and psychology of lying, Smith, a professor of philosophy and cofounder and director of the Institute for Cognitive Science and Evolutionary Psychology at the University of New England, tries to demonstrate that humans are hardwired to deceive: we do so just as frogs and lizards engage in mimicry, to insure the survival of the species. Unlike other animals, however, we have the capacity to deceive ourselves as well as others, since our mendacity is embedded not only in our evolutionary past but also in our unconscious. Smith tells us nothing that hasn't been covered by other writers in sociobiology and evolutionary psychology. Moreover, his study is really two books-one on evolutionary biology and the other on psychology and the unconscious-and the lack of transition makes it hard to tell what one really has to do with the other. Agent, Michael Psaltis. (July 7) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reservedCHOICE Review
People lie to themselves and others, individually and collectively, and they do it both consciously and unconsciously. Smith (Univ. of New England) argues that deception is rooted evolutionarily. Human deception is unique only because it uses language and culture. Smith employs the often-cited evolutionary analogy of an "arms race," whereby an increasingly sophisticated ability to tell lies is adaptively matched by individual and collective abilities to detect those lies. One of the peculiar side effects of this arms race, according to Smith, is the evolution of a capacity for self-deception, which increases people's ability to deceive others, but at the expense of self-knowledge. Goodbye Descartes! Hence, much of this book is aimed at reviving a long-discredited Freudian-based concept of the unconscious mind. Smith argues that techniques employed in modern cognitive science now make possible the scientific study of the unconscious mind. This book is an exemplar of interdisciplinary research--drawing on evolutionary biology, cognitive science, philosophy, and history of science. (Even Mendel fudged his data!) It grafts science journalism with undergraduate textbook writing. Since this work offers many real-life examples and personal anecdotes, college students will love reading it, and professors will enjoy teaching and debating its content. Comparable to Jared Diamond's classic Why Is Sex Fun? (1997). ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers. R. F. White College of Mount St. JosephBooklist Review
The brain, especially the unconscious mind, is the ultimate challenge for scientists and philosophers. Following the lead of Antonio Damasio and Diane Ackerman, Smith focuses on a particularly baffling trait, our proclivity for deception, not only our habit of lying to others but also, and far more mysteriously, the way we deceive ourselves. To show that lying is as natural as breathing, Smith presents a lively survey of the many forms of deception practiced by plants, insects, and animals. He then turns to Homo sapiens and offers cogent and provocative analysis of the link between increasingly complex societies, the evolution of the brain, and the need for social lies in the interest of civility. This leads to eyebrow-raising speculation regarding the source of our habitual mendacity and psyche-protecting self-deception (the extent of which is truly astonishing), a facet of the unconscious that Smith calls Machiavellian intelligence, and a convincing theory as to why it functions beyond the reach of introspection. With an aha! moment on every page, Smith's inquiry is stimulating and unsettling. --Donna Seaman Copyright 2004 BooklistKirkus Book Review
A leap beyond mainstream science proposes how the unconscious mind could drive our everyday mastery of the art of deceit, both of others and ourselves. Smith (Dir., Institute for Cognitive Science and Evolutionary Psychology & Professor of Philosophy/Univ. of New England) is candid about speculative assumptions--primarily his--that adorn an array of studies and conclusions, nicely interpreted for lay readers, from eminent and respected scientists pointing toward the premise: not only are we all born liars but we wouldn't have prospered as a species otherwise. First of all, there's nothing controversial about the application of elemental deceit, as a succeeding evolutionary principle, in nature. A plant, for instance, develops parts or patterns that provide a false sexual lure for pollinating insects; it thrives while others die out. It's not too terrifying a leap from there to the idea that primates (easily demonstrable) and their heirs, human beings, are steeped in myriad deceptive tricks of survival, including efficient predation. Where it begins to get Freudian-creepy is in Smith's skillfully buttressed assertion that, in order to lie skillfully, to be macho and Machiavellian enough to get along under the moral codes that provide the fabric of society, we need to tell the biggest lie--that we're not really lying--to ourselves. And things really go topsy-turvy when the author reports that "research suggests that 'normality' . . . may rest on a foundation of self-deception." Nut cases, in other words, are actually suffering from a lack of delusions. Smith finally asks us to go the final mile and accept the possibility that we have long since buried in our subconscious minds the facility to arbitrate and comfortably fabricate--while cleverly plumbing the mendacious intentions of others--our everyday dialogues as a kind of "poetry" of untruth. Deliciously tantalizing, with morality as the Grandest Deceit of them all. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.There are no comments on this title.