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Anales de Psicología
ISSN: 0212-9728
[email protected]
Universidad de Murcia
España
Masip, Jaume; Garrido, Eugenio; Herrero, Carmen
Defining deception
Anales de Psicología, vol. 20, núm. 1, junio, 2004, pp. 147-171
Universidad de Murcia
Murcia, España
Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=16720112
Abstract
In view of the relative disagreement among those studying deception as to how deception, the lie, or deceptive communication
should be defined, an attempt is made to integrate the views of the most influential scholars in the field in order to formulate a
comprehensive and clear-cut definition of deception. The starting point is Coleman and Kays (1981) elements of the prototypical
lie, as well as Gerald Millers (1983; Miller & Stiff, 1993) notion of deceptive communication. Deception is defined as the deliberate
attempt, whether successful or not, to conceal, fabricate, and/or manipulate in any other way, factual and/or emotional information,
by verbal and/or nonverbal means, in order to create or maintain in another or others a belief that the communicator himself or
herself considers false. Each term of this definition is discussed in detail and, in doing so, it becomes apparent that several
deception theories and a variety of social psychology and communication contributions have been integrated to build it. In addition,
some specific implications of the definition, such as the importance that the intentional element (the deliberate attempt) has for the
legal system, are discussed. The aim of this paper is to contribute to reaching an agreement among social scientists on what
should be understood as deception.
Keywords
Deception; lie; deceit; deceptive communication;
detection of deception; lie detection; concealment;
falsification.
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