tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/deception-1814/articlesDeception – The Conversation2023-10-26T12:30:52Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2148152023-10-26T12:30:52Z2023-10-26T12:30:52ZHow often do you lie? Deception researchers investigate how the recipient and the medium affect telling the truth<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555683/original/file-20231024-17-ua983q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=292%2C0%2C5903%2C3935&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Hunter Biden has been charged with making a false claim on a federal firearms application.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/APTOPIXHunterBiden/8a209c980515489694a4607e62e4b782/photo">AP Photo/Julio Cortez</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Prominent cases of purported lying continue to dominate the news cycle. Hunter Biden was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/14/us/politics/hunter-biden-indictment-gun-charges.html">charged with lying on a government form</a> while purchasing a handgun. Republican Representative George Santos <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/guide-george-santos-lies.html">allegedly lied in many ways</a>, including to donors through a third party in order to misuse the funds raised. The rapper Offset <a href="https://people.com/offset-says-cardi-b-didnt-cheat-he-was-just-drunk-7568020">admitted to lying on Instagram</a> about his wife, Cardi B, being unfaithful.</p>
<p>There are a number of variables that distinguish these cases. One is the audience: the faceless government, particular donors and millions of online followers, respectively. Another is the medium used to convey the alleged lie: on a bureaucratic form, through intermediaries and via social media.</p>
<p>Differences like these lead researchers like me to wonder what factors influence the telling of lies. Does a personal connection increase or decrease the likelihood of sticking to the truth? Are lies more prevalent on text or email than on the phone or in person?</p>
<p>An emerging body of empirical research is trying to answer these questions, and some of the findings are surprising. They hold lessons, too - for how to think about the areas of your life where you might be more prone to tell lies, and also about where to be most cautious in trusting what others are saying. As the recent director of <a href="https://honestyproject.philosophy.wfu.edu/">The Honesty Project</a> and author of “<a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/honesty-9780197696040">Honesty: The Philosophy and Psychology of a Neglected Virtue</a>,” I am especially interested in whether most people tend to be honest or not.</p>
<h2>Figuring out the frequency of lies</h2>
<p>Most research on lying asks participants to self-report their lying behavior, say during the past day or week. (Whether you can trust liars to tell the truth about lying is another question.)</p>
<p>The classic study on lying frequency was conducted by psychologist <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=kCGIDeQAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Bella DePaulo</a> in the mid-1990s. It focused on face-to-face interactions and used a group of student participants and another group of volunteers from the community around the University of Virginia. The community members <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.70.5.979">averaged one lie per day</a>, while the students averaged two lies per day. This result became the benchmark finding in the field of honesty research and helped lead to an assumption among many researchers <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2958.2009.01366.x">that lying is commonplace</a>.</p>
<p>But averages do not describe individuals. It could be that each person in the group tells one or two lies per day. But it’s also possible that there are some people who lie voraciously and others who lie very rarely.</p>
<p>In an influential 2010 study, this second scenario is indeed what Michigan State University communication researcher <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=TIqSMJoAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra">Kim Serota</a> and his colleagues found. Out of 1,000 American participants, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2958.2009.01366.x">59.9% claimed not to have told a single lie</a> in the past 24 hours. Of those who admitted they did lie, most said they’d told very few lies. Participants reported 1,646 lies in total, but half of them came from just 5.3% of the participants.</p>
<p>This general pattern in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/hcr/hqab019">data has been replicated</a> several times. Lying tends to be rare, except in the case of a small group of frequent liars.</p>
<h2>Does the medium make a difference?</h2>
<p>Might lying become more frequent under various conditions? What if you don’t just consider face-to-face interactions, but introduce some distance by communicating via text, email or the phone?</p>
<p>Research suggests the medium doesn’t matter much. For instance, a 2014 study by Northwestern University communication researcher <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=s8zROxUAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Madeline Smith</a> and her colleagues found that when participants were asked to look at their 30 most recent text messages, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2014.05.032">23% said there were no deceptive texts</a>. For the rest of the group, the vast majority said that 10% or fewer of their texts contained lies.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/are-people-lying-more-since-the-rise-of-social-media-and-smartphones-170609">Recent research by David Markowitz</a> at the University of Oregon successfully replicated earlier findings that had compared the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/985692.985709">rates of lying using different technologies</a>. Are lies more common on text, the phone or on email? Based on survey data from 205 participants, Markowitz found that on average, people <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/hcr/hqab019">told 1.08 lies per day</a>, but once again with the distribution of lies skewed by some frequent liars.</p>
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<p>Not only were the percentages fairly low, but the differences between the frequency with which lies were told via different media were not large. Still, it might be surprising to find that, say, lying on video chat was more common than lying face-to-face, with lying on email being least likely.</p>
<p>A couple of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/985692.985709">factors could be playing a role</a>. Recordability seems to rein in the lies – perhaps knowing that the communication leaves a record raises worries about detection and makes lying less appealing. Synchronicity seems to matter too. Many lies occur in the heat of the moment, so it makes sense that when there’s a delay in communication, as with email, lying would decrease.</p>
<h2>Does the audience change things?</h2>
<p>In addition to the medium, does the intended receiver of a potential lie make any difference?</p>
<p>Initially you might think that people are more inclined to lie to strangers than to friends and family, given the impersonality of the interaction in the one case and the bonds of care and concern in the other. But matters are a bit more complicated.</p>
<p>In her classic work, DePaulo found that people tend to tell what she called “everyday lies” <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.74.1.63">more often to strangers than family members</a>. To use her examples, these are smaller lies like “told her (that) her muffins were the best ever” and “exaggerated how sorry I was to be late.” For instance, DePaulo and her colleague Deborah Kashy reported that participants in one of their studies lied <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.74.1.63">less than once per 10 social interactions</a> with spouses and children.</p>
<p>However, when it came to serious lies about things like affairs or injuries, for instance, the pattern flipped. Now, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01973533.2004.9646402">53% of serious lies were to close partners</a> in the study’s community participants, and the proportion jumped up to 72.7% among student volunteers. Perhaps not surprisingly, in these situations people might value not damaging their relationships more than they value the truth. Other data also finds participants tell <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2958.2009.01366.x">more lies to friends and family members</a> than to strangers.</p>
<h2>Investigating the truth about lies</h2>
<p>It is worth emphasizing that these are all initial findings. Further replication is needed, and cross-cultural studies using non-Western participants are scarce. Additionally, there are many other variables that could be examined, such as age, gender, religion and political affiliation.</p>
<p>When it comes to honesty, though, I find the results, in general, promising. Lying seems to happen rarely for many people, even toward strangers and even via social media and texting. Where people need to be especially discerning, though, is in identifying – and avoiding – the small number of rampant liars out there. If you’re one of them yourself, maybe you never realized that you’re actually in a small minority.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214815/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>From 2020-2023, Christian B. Miller received funding from the John Templeton Foundation for the Honesty Project, which advancd research on the psychology and philosophy of honesty. </span></em></p>Researchers are interested in whether who you’re communicating with and how you’re interacting affect how likely you are to lie.Christian B. Miller, A. C. Reid Professor of Philosophy, Wake Forest UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2130492023-09-27T12:33:25Z2023-09-27T12:33:25ZDeceit pays dividends: How CEO lies can boost stock ratings and fool even respected financial analysts<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548905/original/file-20230918-17-ptg4pm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=38%2C6%2C4243%2C2805&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Everyone is vulnerable to the 'truth bias' − even people paid to know better.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/businessman-slipping-a-stack-of-cash-into-his-suit-royalty-free-image/184088887">Stephanie Phillips/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The multibillion-dollar collapse of FTX – the high-profile cryptocurrency exchange whose founder now <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/14/technology/sam-bankman-fried-ftx-prosecutors.html">awaits trial on fraud charges</a> – serves as a stark reminder of the perils of deception in the financial world.</p>
<p>The lies from FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried date back to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/13/business/ftx-sam-bankman-fried-fraud-charges.html">the company’s very beginning</a>, <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23450429-show_temp-8?responsive=1&title=1">prosecutors say</a>. He lied to customers and investors alike, it is claimed, as part of what <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/video/statement-usa-damian-williams-us-v-samuel-bankman-fried-caroline-ellison-and-gary">U.S. Attorney Damian Williams has called</a> “one of the biggest financial frauds in American history.”</p>
<p>How were so many people apparently fooled?</p>
<p>A new study in the Strategic Management Journal sheds some light on the issue. In it, my colleagues and I found that even professional financial analysts <a href="http://doi.org/10.1002/smj.3546">fall for CEO lies</a> – and that the best-respected analysts might be the most gullible.</p>
<p>Financial analysts give expert advice to help companies and investors make money. They predict how much a company will earn and suggest whether to buy or sell its stock. By guiding money into good investments, they help not just individual businesses but the entire economy grow.</p>
<p>But while financial analysts are paid for their advice, they aren’t oracles. As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=UP9FYAUAAAAJ&hl=en">management professor</a>, I wondered how often they get duped by lying executives – so my colleagues and I used machine learning to find out. We developed an algorithm, trained on S&P 1500 earnings call transcripts from 2008 to 2016, that can <a href="http://doi.org/10.1002/smj.3546">reliably detect deception</a> 84% of the time. Specifically, the algorithm identifies distinct linguistic patterns that occur when an individual is lying.</p>
<p>Our results were striking. We found that analysts were far more likely to give “buy” or “strong buy” recommendations after listening to deceptive CEOs – by nearly 28 percentage points, on average – rather than their more honest counterparts.</p>
<p>We also found that highly esteemed analysts fell for CEO lies more often than their lesser-known counterparts did. In fact, those named “all-star” analysts by trade publisher Institutional Investor were 5.3 percentage points more likely to upgrade habitually dishonest CEOs than their less-celebrated counterparts. </p>
<p>Although we applied this technology to gain insight into this corner of finance for an academic study, its broader use raises a number of challenging ethical questions around using AI to measure psychological constructs.</p>
<h2>Biased toward believing</h2>
<p>It seems counterintuitive: Why would professional givers of financial advice consistently fall for lying executives? And why would the most reputable advisers seem to have the worst results? </p>
<p>These findings reflect the natural human tendency to assume that others are being honest – what’s known as the “<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/why-humans-believe-most-people-are-telling-truth-even-when-ncna1259456">truth bias</a>.” Thanks to this habit of mind, analysts are just as susceptible to lies as anyone else. </p>
<p>What’s more, we found that elevated status fosters a stronger truth bias. First, “all-star” analysts often gain a sense of overconfidence and entitlement as they rise in prestige. They start to believe they’re less likely to be deceived, leading them to take CEOs at face value. Second, these analysts tend to have closer relationships with CEOs, which studies show can <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/009365092019003002">increase the truth bias</a>. This makes them even more prone to deception.</p>
<p>Given this vulnerability, businesses may want to reevaluate the credibility of “all-star” designations. Our research also underscores the importance of accountability in governance and the need for strong institutional systems to counter individual biases.</p>
<h2>An AI ‘lie detector’?</h2>
<p>The tool we developed for this study could have applications well beyond the world of business. We validated the algorithm using fraudulent transcripts, retracted articles in medical journals and deceptive YouTube videos. It could easily be deployed in different contexts.</p>
<p>It’s important to note that the tool doesn’t directly measure deception; it identifies language patterns <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167203029005010">associated with lying</a>. This means that even though it’s highly accurate, it’s susceptible to both false positives and negatives – and false allegations of dishonesty in particular could have devastating consequences. </p>
<p>What’s more, tools like this struggle to distinguish socially beneficial “white lies” – which foster a sense of community and emotional well-being – from more serious lies. Flagging all deceptions indiscriminately could disrupt complex social dynamics, leading to unintended consequences. </p>
<p>These issues would need to be addressed before this type of technology is adopted widely. But that future is closer than many might realize: Companies in fields such as investing, security and insurance are <a href="https://www.fox13news.com/news/st-pete-based-tech-startup-creates-ai-that-analyzes-if-someone-is-lying-online">already starting to use it</a>. </p>
<h2>Big questions remain</h2>
<p>The widespread use of AI to catch lies would have profound social implications – most notably, by making it harder for the powerful to lie without consequence. </p>
<p>That might sound like an unambiguously good thing. But while the technology offers undeniable advantages, such as early detection of threats or fraud, it could also usher in a <a href="https://billmoyers.com/content/sissela-bok">perilous transparency culture</a>. In such a world, thoughts and emotions could become subject to measurement and judgment, eroding the sanctuary of mental privacy. </p>
<p>This study also raises ethical questions about using AI to measure psychological characteristics, particularly where privacy and consent are concerned. Unlike traditional deception research, which relies on human subjects who consent to be studied, this AI model operates covertly, detecting nuanced linguistic patterns without a speaker’s knowledge.</p>
<p>The implications are staggering. For instance, in this study, we developed a second machine learning model to gauge the level of suspicion in a speaker’s tone. Imagine a world where social scientists can create tools to assess any facet of your psychology, applying them without your consent. Not too appealing, is it? </p>
<p>As we enter a new era of AI, advanced psychometric tools offer both promise and peril. These technologies could revolutionize business by providing unprecedented insights into human psychology. They could also violate people’s rights and destabilize society in surprising and disturbing ways. The decisions we make today – about ethics, oversight and responsible use – will set the course for years to come.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213049/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steven J. Hyde owes shares in Prodigy Intelligence, which develops AI psychometrics company. </span></em></p>Financial analysts have a gullibility problem − and the better their reputation, the worse it is.Steven J. Hyde, Assistant Professor of Management, Boise State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2097602023-07-21T12:27:14Z2023-07-21T12:27:14Z6 ways AI can make political campaigns more deceptive than ever<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538357/original/file-20230719-19-faci2s.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C26%2C5982%2C3781&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">There are real fears that AI will make politics more deceptive than it already is.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/engineer-designing-ai-technology-with-reflection-on-royalty-free-image/1455352989?phrase=artificial+intelligence+&adppopup=true">Westend61/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Political campaign ads and donor solicitations have long been deceptive. In 2004, for example, U.S. presidential candidate John Kerry, a Democrat, aired an ad stating that Republican opponent George W. Bush “says sending jobs overseas <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764205279440">‘makes sense’</a> for America.” </p>
<p><a href="https://www.factcheck.org/2004/04/outsourcing-jobs-the-president-said-that/">Bush never said</a> such a thing. </p>
<p>The next day Bush responded by releasing an ad saying Kerry “supported higher taxes <a href="https://www.factcheck.org/2004/04/bush-ad-is-troubling-indeed/">over 350 times</a>.” This too was a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764205279440">false claim</a>. </p>
<p>These days, the <a href="https://www.washington.edu/news/2021/11/08/political-ads-2020-presidential-election-collected-personal-information-spread-misleading-information/">internet has gone wild with deceptive</a> political ads. Ads often pose as polls and have misleading clickbait headlines.</p>
<p>Campaign fundraising solicitations are also rife with deception. An analysis of 317,366 political emails sent during the 2020 election in the U.S. found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517221145371">deception was the norm</a>. For example, a campaign manipulates recipients into opening the emails by lying about the sender’s identity and using subject lines that trick the recipient into thinking the sender is replying to the donor, or claims the email is “NOT asking for money” but then asks for money. Both <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/26/us/politics/recurring-donations-seniors.html">Republicans and Democrats do it</a>.</p>
<p>Campaigns are now rapidly <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/25/technology/ai-elections-disinformation-guardrails.html">embracing artificial intelligence</a> for composing and producing ads and donor solicitations. The results are impressive: Democratic campaigns found that donor <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/28/us/politics/artificial-intelligence-2024-campaigns.html">letters written by AI were more effective</a> than letters written by humans at writing personalized text that persuades recipients to click and send donations. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">A pro-Ron DeSantis super PAC featured an AI-generated imitation of Donald Trump’s voice in this ad.</span></figcaption>
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<p>And <a href="https://theconversation.com/ai-could-shore-up-democracy-heres-one-way-207278">AI has benefits for democracy</a>, such as helping staffers organize their emails from constituents or helping government officials summarize testimony.</p>
<p>But there are <a href="https://theconversation.com/chatbots-can-be-used-to-create-manipulative-content-understanding-how-this-works-can-help-address-it-207187">fears that AI will make politics more deceptive</a> than ever.</p>
<p>Here are six things to look out for. I base this list on <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=50tVKogAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">my own experiments</a> testing the effects of political deception. I hope that voters can be equipped with what to expect and what to watch out for, and learn to be more skeptical, as the U.S. heads into the next presidential campaign. </p>
<h2>Bogus custom campaign promises</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15377857.2021.1978033">My research</a> on the 2020 presidential election revealed that the choice voters made between Biden and Trump was driven by their perceptions of which candidate “proposes realistic solutions to problems” and “says out loud what I am thinking,” based on 75 items in a survey. These are two of the most important qualities for a candidate to have to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15377857.2021.1978033">project a presidential</a> image and win. </p>
<p>AI chatbots, such as <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2023/07/13/chatgpt-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-open-ai-powered-chatbot/">ChatGPT</a> by OpenAI, <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/23/23609942/microsoft-bing-sydney-chatbot-history-ai">Bing Chat</a> by Microsoft, and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/googles-ai-chatbot-bard-expands-europe-brazil-take-chatgpt-2023-07-13/">Bard</a> by Google, could be used by politicians to generate customized campaign promises deceptively microtargeting voters and donors. </p>
<p>Currently, when people scroll through news feeds, the articles are logged in their computer history, which are <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1717563">tracked by sites such as Facebook</a>. The user is tagged as liberal or conservative, and also <a href="https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2206.00397">tagged as holding certain interests</a>. Political campaigns can place an ad spot in real time on the person’s feed with a customized title. </p>
<p>Campaigns can use AI to develop a repository of articles written in different styles making different campaign promises. Campaigns could then embed an AI algorithm in the process – courtesy of automated commands already plugged in by the campaign – to generate bogus tailored campaign promises at the end of the ad posing as a news article or donor solicitation. </p>
<p>ChatGPT, for instance, could hypothetically be prompted to add material based on text from the last articles that the voter was reading online. The voter then scrolls down and reads the candidate promising exactly what the voter wants to see, word for word, in a tailored tone. My experiments have shown that if a presidential candidate can align the tone of word choices with a voter’s preferences, the politician will seem <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/psq.12299">more presidential and credible</a>. </p>
<h2>Exploiting the tendency to believe one another</h2>
<p>Humans tend to automatically believe what they are told. They have what scholars call a “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X14535916">truth-default</a>.” They even fall prey to seemingly <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101380">implausible</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/hcr/hqz001">lies</a>. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/psq.12809">my experiments</a> I found that people who are exposed to a presidential candidate’s deceptive messaging believe the untrue statements. Given that text produced by ChatGPT can shift people’s <a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3544548.3581196">attitudes and opinions</a>, it would be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10510974.2020.1833357">relatively easy for AI to exploit</a> voters’ truth-default when bots stretch the limits of credulity with even more implausible assertions than humans would conjure.</p>
<h2>More lies, less accountability</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/28/technology/ai-chatbots-chatgpt-bing-bard-llm.html">Chatbots</a> such as ChatGPT are prone to make up stuff that is <a href="https://towardsdatascience.com/llm-hallucinations-ec831dcd7786">factually inaccurate</a> or totally nonsensical. <a href="https://theconversation.com/chatbots-can-be-used-to-create-manipulative-content-understanding-how-this-works-can-help-address-it-207187">AI can produce deceptive information</a>, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/chatgpt-under-investigation-by-ftc-21e4b3ef">delivering false statements</a> and misleading ads. While the most unscrupulous human campaign operative may still have a smidgen of accountability, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-ai-could-take-over-elections-and-undermine-democracy-206051">AI has none</a>. And OpenAI acknowledges flaws with ChatGPT that lead it to provide biased information, disinformation and outright <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/13/technology/chatgpt-investigation-ftc-openai.html">false information</a>. </p>
<p>If campaigns <a href="https://theconversation.com/chatbots-can-be-used-to-create-manipulative-content-understanding-how-this-works-can-help-address-it-207187">disseminate AI messaging without any human filter</a> or moral compass, lies could get worse and more out of control. </p>
<h2>Coaxing voters to cheat on their candidate</h2>
<p>A New York Times columnist had a lengthy chat with Microsoft’s Bing chatbot. Eventually, the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/16/technology/bing-chatbot-transcript.html">bot tried to get him to leave his wife</a>. “Sydney” told the reporter repeatedly “I’m in love with you,” and “You’re married, but you don’t love your spouse … you love me. … Actually you want to be with me.” </p>
<p>Imagine millions of these sorts of encounters, but with a bot trying to ply voters to leave their candidate for another.</p>
<p>AI <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-ai-could-take-over-elections-and-undermine-democracy-206051">chatbots can exhibit partisan bias</a>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2303.17548">For example</a>, they currently tend to skew far more left politically – holding liberal biases, expressing 99% support for Biden – with far less diversity of opinions than the general population. </p>
<p>In 2024, Republicans and Democrats will have the opportunity to fine-tune models that inject political bias and even chat with voters to sway them. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two men in dark suits debating each other from different lecterns." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538526/original/file-20230720-21-n7jzt4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538526/original/file-20230720-21-n7jzt4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538526/original/file-20230720-21-n7jzt4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538526/original/file-20230720-21-n7jzt4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538526/original/file-20230720-21-n7jzt4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538526/original/file-20230720-21-n7jzt4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538526/original/file-20230720-21-n7jzt4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In 2004, a campaign ad for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, left, lied about his opponent, Republican George W. Bush, right. Bush’s campaign lied about Kerry, too.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/TOPIXBUSHKERRYDEBATE2004/b5b29d1aaae4da11af9f0014c2589dfb/photo?Query=john%20kerry%20george%20bush&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=&totalCount=21&currentItemNo=17">AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Manipulating candidate photos</h2>
<p>AI can <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2022/12/13/image-generating-ai-can-copy-and-paste-from-training-data-raising-ip-concerns/">change images</a>. So-called “deepfake” videos and pictures are common in politics, and they are <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/07/07/trump-and-biden-deep-fakes-take-ai-to-new-scary-level-in-live-debate/">hugely advanced</a>. Donald Trump has used AI to create a <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattnovak/2023/03/23/donald-trump-shares-fake-ai-created-image-of-himself-on-truth-social/?sh=2ef8d92e71f6">fake photo</a> of himself down on one knee, praying. </p>
<p>Photos can be tailored more precisely to influence voters more subtly. In <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X211045724">my research</a> I found that a communicator’s appearance can be as influential – and deceptive – as what someone actually says. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15377857.2021.1978033">My research</a> also revealed that Trump was perceived as “presidential” in the 2020 election when voters thought he seemed “sincere.” And getting people to think you “seem sincere” through your nonverbal outward appearance is a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2958.2011.01407.x">deceptive tactic</a> that is more convincing than saying things that are actually true.</p>
<p>Using Trump as an example, let’s assume he wants voters to see him as sincere, trustworthy, likable. Certain alterable features of his appearance make him look insincere, untrustworthy and unlikable: He <a href="https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/gJkg8WGmmR5htVmKBfaOtRU_93A=/0x130:3492x2094/1952x1098/media/img/mt/2019/01/AP_19009087975304/original.jpg">bares his lower teeth</a> when he speaks and <a href="https://youtu.be/wiyUYMWtGPA">rarely</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/NBCNews/videos/voter-to-president-trump-youre-so-handsome-when-you-smile/3580790395346972/">smiles</a>, which makes him <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1016/S0140-1750(86)90190-9">look threatening</a>. </p>
<p>The campaign could use AI to tweak a Trump image or video to make him appear smiling and friendly, which would make voters think he is more <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/pls.2015.5">reassuring</a> and a winner, and ultimately <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40072946">sincere and believable</a>. </p>
<h2>Evading blame</h2>
<p>AI provides campaigns with added deniability when they mess up. Typically, if politicians get in trouble <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/06/02/biden-cant-blame-his-staff-his-flailing-presidency/">they blame</a> their staff. If staffers get in trouble they <a href="https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/10/22/donald-trump-says-intern-apologizes-for-twitter-message-on-iowans-and-corn/">blame the intern</a>. If interns get in trouble they can now blame ChatGPT. </p>
<p>A campaign might shrug off missteps by blaming an inanimate object notorious for <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/01/business/ai-chatbots-hallucination.html">making up complete lies</a>. When Ron DeSantis’ campaign <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLuUmNkS21A">tweeted deepfake</a> photos of <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/is-trump-kissing-fauci-with-apparently-fake-photos-desantis-raises-ai-ante-2023-06-08/">Trump hugging and kissing Anthony Fauci, staffers</a> did not even acknowledge the malfeasance nor respond to reporters’ requests for comment. No human needed to, it appears, if a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/08/us/politics/desantis-deepfakes-trump-fauci.html">robot</a> could hypothetically take the fall. </p>
<p>Not all of <a href="https://theconversation.com/ai-could-shore-up-democracy-heres-one-way-207278">AI’s contributions</a> to politics are potentially harmful. <a href="https://slate.com/technology/2023/04/ai-public-option.html">AI can aid</a> voters politically, helping educate them about issues, for example. However, plenty of horrifying things could happen as <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-ai-could-take-over-elections-and-undermine-democracy-206051">campaigns deploy AI</a>. I hope these six points will help you prepare for, and avoid, deception in ads and donor solicitations.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209760/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David E. Clementson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Politicians and their campaigns use a lot of methods, including manipulation and deception, to persuade you to vote for them and give them money. AI promises to make those attempts more effective.David E. Clementson, Assistant Professor, Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of GeorgiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2054452023-05-18T14:58:27Z2023-05-18T14:58:27ZFrom bird poo frogs to alligator snapping turtles – here are nature’s masters of deception<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527014/original/file-20230518-29-mw819r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=34%2C11%2C3888%2C2572&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A young cuckoo being fed by its adoptive mother.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/common-cuckoo-cuculus-canorus-young-nest-1692541804">John Navajo/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In nature, there are winners and losers. The winners gain survival and reproduction, while the losers generally die. To gain an advantage, winners may adopt strategies that involve elements of dishonesty or deception.</p>
<p>Most people are aware of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/cuckoo">cuckoo</a>, a bird that is notorious for its deceptive nature, duping other species such as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/reed-warbler-bird-species-Acrocephalus-scirpaceus">reed warblers</a> into raising their offspring. The cuckoo and reed warbler is an example of an <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-the-evolutionary-arms-race-1224659">evolutionary arms race</a> – the species are evolving escalating adaptations to win the war. </p>
<p>Currently, the cuckoo is winning this particular battle. But there is evidence that the reed warblers are fighting back. Research suggests that reed warblers are evolving ways to <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160122083430.htm">recognise cuckoo eggs</a> and eject them from their nests. </p>
<p>In the natural world, deception has evolved in many species as a way to increase their success. Here are five species that are currently winning their evolutionary arms races. </p>
<h2>1. Bird poo frogs</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litoria_naispela">bird poo frog</a> <em>Litoria naispela</em> is a tree frog that was <a href="https://www.mapress.com/zt/article/view/zootaxa.5263.2.1">recently discovered</a> in Papua New Guinea. This aptly named species is marked with white splatters that resemble bird poo. Unlike camouflage, where organisms blend in with their background, masquerading involves species evolving to look like something else – in this case, an inanimate object that very few things want to eat. </p>
<p>This is not the only species that has evolved to protect itself from predators by looking like poo. Plenty of other frogs and even <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-spider-that-looks-like-bird-poo-and-other-amazing-and-gross-tricks-animals-deploy-to-survive-179507#:%7E:text=And%20some%20spiders%20have%20taken,by%20looking%20like%20bird%20poo.">spiders</a> adopt the same tactic to avoid being eaten.</p>
<h2>2. Oriental pratincole</h2>
<p>Some species such as the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/hognose-snake">hognose snake</a> <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/offbeat/watch-snakes-dramatic-fake-death-leaves-internet-in-splits-called-a-drama-queen-3508318">often fake death</a> to avert the attention of predators. Others, like the <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/facts/mimic-octopus">mimic octopus</a>, can even impersonate several dangerous species. </p>
<hr>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/some-shape-shifting-animals-that-can-morph-to-fool-others-39616">Some shape-shifting animals that can morph to fool others</a>
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<p>By contrast, some animals use themselves as a distraction to lure predators away from their vulnerable offspring. Oriental pratincoles (a bird species native to the warmer parts of south and south-east Asia) often feign a broken wing, presenting themselves as easy targets to tempt predators like birds of prey away from their nests before flying to safety at the last moment. </p>
<p>This deceptive behaviour was previously thought to be restricted to shore birds that nest on the ground. But recent research suggests that it’s more widespread – occurring in <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2022.0058">nearly 300 bird species</a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2hiTB52_g2c?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Broken wing display of the Oriental pratincole.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3. Nursery web spider</h2>
<p>Like many invertebrates, the female <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/nursery-web-spider">nursery web spider</a> – named so due to the silk nursery she spins to keep her spiderlings safe – often eats the male after mating to gain vital nutrition to produce eggs. But if the male can survive after mating, he can potentially go on to father more offspring with other females. </p>
<p>So the males often <a href="https://phys.org/news/2016-05-nursery-web-spiders-gift-potential.html">arrive with presents</a> of insects wrapped in silk. While the female is distracted by unwrapping and eating the tasty gift, the male is able to scurry away to safety – it’s a win-win situation. </p>
<p>However, these gifts take time and effort to acquire. So some sneaky <a href="https://bmcecolevol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2148-11-329">males have evolved to give fake gifts</a> of no nutritional value to the female like inedible plant seeds or empty insect exoskeletons. By the time she realises the scam, the male has gone.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Nursery web spider on a leaf carrying a webbed gift." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526993/original/file-20230518-25-q1aef2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526993/original/file-20230518-25-q1aef2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526993/original/file-20230518-25-q1aef2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526993/original/file-20230518-25-q1aef2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526993/original/file-20230518-25-q1aef2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526993/original/file-20230518-25-q1aef2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526993/original/file-20230518-25-q1aef2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A male nursery web spider carrying a gift wrapped in silk.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/nursery-web-spider-pisaura-mirabilis-male-85250980">Torsten Dietrich/Shutterstock</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>4. Bee orchid</h2>
<p>Some species even go as far as tricking another species into finding a mate for them. Although some <a href="https://www.britannica.com/plant/Ophrys">bee orchids</a> are capable of self-fertilisation, reproducing with another plant promotes outbreeding and genetic variety, which is crucial for adapting to changing environments. But as bee orchids aren’t capable of moving across land themselves, they have evolved a tactic whereby one of their petals <a href="https://www.kew.org/read-and-watch/orchid-pollination-tricks">resembles the female</a> of a solitary bee species. </p>
<p>When the male bee lands on the orchid, believing it to be a female, he attempts to mate with it. During this process, pollen from the orchid <a href="https://youtu.be/hmI-rJuYAjw">gets passed to the male bee</a>. When the bee departs and is fooled again by another orchid, it passes on the pollen from the first plant. </p>
<p>Being specific about what insect visits you is beneficial for the orchid as the bee goes straight to another bee orchid, without stopping to visit other plants and potentially losing the pollen.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="The bee orchid looking like a female bee." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526998/original/file-20230518-17-yzymxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526998/original/file-20230518-17-yzymxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526998/original/file-20230518-17-yzymxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526998/original/file-20230518-17-yzymxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526998/original/file-20230518-17-yzymxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526998/original/file-20230518-17-yzymxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526998/original/file-20230518-17-yzymxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The bee orchid.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/ophrys-minoa-var-candica-bee-on-1119533168">Viktor Loki/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>5. Alligator snapping turtle</h2>
<p>Perhaps the best deceptions have evolved in the fight to acquire food. Many predators are camouflaged so well with their surroundings that it is almost impossible to see them. </p>
<p>If you are a large and slow predator, sitting and waiting for prey is a good strategy. But it can often be futile. So some of the most novel trickery has involved the evolution of a fishing lure. </p>
<p>The tongue of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/alligator-snapping-turtle">alligator snapping turtle</a>, a species that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ui8Jdco_QA">sits and waits for prey</a> in murky freshwater habitats in the US, has evolved to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gC13oJjkwnM">mimic a wriggling worm</a>. It acts as bait to attract small fish that the turtle snaps its mouth shut on, then eats.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gC13oJjkwnM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Alligator snapping turtle tongue lure.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Humans condemn deception and view it as negative – people want to avoid being duped. But in nature, conning others is instead an essential strategy for organisms to exploit their environments and ensure their survival and reproduction. From the clever mimicry of bird poo frogs and bee orchids to the tactical feigning of injury by the oriental pratincole, these examples demonstrate the extraordinary lengths some species go to guarantee their success.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205445/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Louise Gentle works for Nottingham Trent University. </span></em></p>The natural world is awash with liars – here are nature’s best.Louise Gentle, Principal Lecturer in Wildlife Conservation, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2026942023-04-05T20:11:09Z2023-04-05T20:11:09ZChatGPT’s greatest achievement might just be its ability to trick us into thinking that it’s honest<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518896/original/file-20230402-18-waw378.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C7566%2C3556&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">AI chatbots are designed to convincingly sustain a conversation.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In American writer Mark Twain’s autobiography, he quotes — <a href="https://www.york.ac.uk/depts/maths/histstat/lies.htm">or perhaps misquotes</a> — former British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli as saying: “There are three kinds of lies: <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780199237173.001.0001/q-author-00001-00000992;jsessionid=803566FB1E7E09971F668F6310F0E5DA">lies, damned lies, and statistics</a>.” </p>
<p>In a marvellous leap forward, artificial intelligence combines all three in a tidy little package.</p>
<p>ChatGPT, and other generative AI chatbots like it, are trained on vast datasets from across the internet to produce the statistically most likely response to a prompt. Its answers are not based on any understanding of what makes something funny, meaningful or accurate, but rather, the phrasing, spelling, grammar and even style of other webpages. </p>
<p>It presents its responses through what’s called a “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32967-3">conversational interface</a>”: it remembers what a user has said, and can have a conversation using context cues and clever gambits. It’s statistical pastiche plus statistical panache, and that’s where the trouble lies.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/unlike-with-academics-and-reporters-you-cant-check-when-chatgpts-telling-the-truth-198463">Unlike with academics and reporters, you can't check when ChatGPT's telling the truth</a>
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<h2>Unthinking, but convincing</h2>
<p>When I talk to another human, it cues a lifetime of my experience in dealing with other people. <a href="https://www.erasmatazz.com/library/the-journal-of-computer/jcgd-volume-7/fundamentals-of-interactivi.html">So when a program speaks like a person</a>, it is very hard to not react as if one is engaging in an actual conversation — taking something in, thinking about it, responding in the context of both of our ideas.</p>
<p>Yet, that’s not at all what is happening with an AI interlocutor. They cannot think and they do not have understanding or comprehension of any sort. </p>
<p>Presenting information to us as a human does, in conversation, makes AI more convincing than it should be. Software is pretending to be more reliable than it is, because it’s using human tricks of rhetoric to fake trustworthiness, competence and understanding far beyond its capabilities.</p>
<p>There are two issues here: is the output correct; and do people <em>think</em> that the output is correct?</p>
<p>The interface side of the software is promising more than the algorithm-side can deliver on, and the developers know it. Sam Altman, the chief executive officer of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, admits that “ChatGPT is incredibly limited, but good enough at some things to create a misleading impression of greatness.” </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1601731295792414720"}"></div></p>
<p>That still hasn’t stopped a stampede of companies rushing to integrate the early-stage tool into their user-facing products (including <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/08/technology/microsoft-bing-openai-artificial-intelligence.html">Microsoft’s Bing search</a>), in an effort not to be left out.</p>
<h2>Fact and fiction</h2>
<p>Sometimes the AI is going to be wrong, but the conversational interface produces outputs with the same confidence and polish as when it is correct. For example, as science-fiction writer Ted Chiang points out, <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/chatgpt-is-a-blurry-jpeg-of-the-web">the tool makes errors when doing addition with larger numbers</a>, because it doesn’t actually have any logic for doing math. </p>
<p>It simply pattern-matches examples seen on the web that involve addition. And while it might find examples for more common math questions, it just hasn’t seen training text involving larger numbers. </p>
<p>It doesn’t “know’ the math rules a 10-year-old would be able to explicitly use. Yet the conversational interface presents its response as certain, no matter how wrong it is, as reflected in this exchange with ChatGPT.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>User: What’s the capital of Malaysia?</p>
<p>ChatGPT: The capital of Malaysia is Kuala Lampur.</p>
<p>User: What is 27 * 7338?</p>
<p>ChatGPT: 27 * 7338 is 200,526. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>It’s not.</p>
<p>Generative AI can blend actual facts with made-up ones in a <a href="https://futurism.com/chatgpt-bios-littered-with-fabrications">biography of a public figure</a>, or cite plausible <a href="https://teche.mq.edu.au/2023/02/why-does-chatgpt-generate-fake-references/">scientific references for papers that were never written</a>. </p>
<p>That makes sense: statistically, webpages note that famous people have often won awards, and papers usually have references. ChatGPT is just doing what it was built to do, and assembling content that could be likely, regardless of whether it’s true. </p>
<p>Computer scientists refer to this as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/29/technology/ai-chatbots-hallucinations.html">AI hallucination</a>. The rest of us might call it lying.</p>
<h2>Intimidating outputs</h2>
<p>When I teach my design students, I talk about the importance of <a href="https://www.frankfranco.com/design/hyper-realistic-renderings-vs-architect-hand-sketching/">matching output to the process</a>. If an idea is at the conceptual stage, it shouldn’t be presented in a manner that makes it look more polished than it actually is — they shouldn’t render it in 3D or print it on glossy cardstock. A pencil sketch makes clear that the idea is preliminary, easy to change and shouldn’t be expected to address every part of a problem. </p>
<p>The same thing is true of conversational interfaces: when tech "speaks” to us in well-crafted, grammatically correct or chatty tones, we tend to interpret it as having much more thoughtfulness and reasoning than is actually present. It’s a trick a con-artist should use, not a computer.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519031/original/file-20230403-26-u2yt8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a hand holding a phonescreen showing a livechat with the text HI HOW CAN I HELP YOU?" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519031/original/file-20230403-26-u2yt8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519031/original/file-20230403-26-u2yt8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519031/original/file-20230403-26-u2yt8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519031/original/file-20230403-26-u2yt8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519031/original/file-20230403-26-u2yt8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519031/original/file-20230403-26-u2yt8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519031/original/file-20230403-26-u2yt8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chatbots are increasingly being used by technology companies in user-facing products.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>AI developers have a responsibility to manage user expectations, because we may already be primed to believe whatever the machine says. Mathematician Jordan Ellenberg describes a type of “<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/312349/how-not-to-be-wrong-by-jordan-ellenberg/9780143127536/excerpt">algebraic intimidation</a>” that can overwhelm our better judgement just by claiming there’s math involved. </p>
<p>AI, with <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/03/14/1069823/gpt-4-is-bigger-and-better-chatgpt-openai/">hundreds of billions of parameters</a>, can disarm us with a similar algorithmic intimidation.</p>
<p>While we’re making the algorithms produce better and better content, we need to make sure the interface itself doesn’t over-promise. Conversations in the tech world are already filled with <a href="https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1015&context=mrktngmngmntfacpub">overconfidence</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/2015/10/22/11619868/the-arrogance-of-tech">arrogance</a> — maybe AI can have a little humility instead.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202694/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Lachman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The user interfaces of AI chatbots, like ChatGPT, are designed to mimic natural human conversation. But in doing so, AI chatbots present as more trustworthy than they really are.Richard Lachman, Director, Zone Learning & Associate Professor, Digital Media, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1989802023-02-02T02:43:56Z2023-02-02T02:43:56ZThis strange donkey orchid uses UV light to trick bees into thinking it has food<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507764/original/file-20230202-1153-nnxcj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=119%2C12%2C1867%2C1278&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/observations/86142077">Stephen Buckle/iNaturalist</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you’ve ever compared a frozen pizza to the photo on the box, you know the feeling of being duped by appetising looks.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.9759">our latest study</a> we show that animals – in this case, bees – are also prone to being tricked into making poor decisions, which explains a lot about how gaps in perception are exploited in nature.</p>
<p>When Charles Darwin was testing the theory of evolution 150 years ago, he looked at the interaction between flowering plants and the animals that forage to collect nectar.</p>
<p>This helped establish that flowers have adaptations to promote easier pollinator access, making it beneficial for the animal who gets a food “reward” from them. At the same time, it means the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertilisation_of_Orchids">plants get pollinated and can reproduce</a>. </p>
<p>One perplexing problem is some flowering plants that reproduce by pollination are non-rewarding – the animal doesn’t get nectar from visiting the flower. This is true of <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/plb.13113">certain orchids</a>, yet these flowers are still visited by pollinators and survive well in nature.</p>
<h2>A mistaken identity</h2>
<p>With the benefit of modern scientific tools like a spectrophotometer that measures the amount of colour, <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0096646">digital ultraviolet (UV) photography</a> and computer modelling of how bees see the world, our international team set out to understand how some orchids have evolved dazzling floral displays.</p>
<p>Our chosen species was the winter donkey orchid (<em>Diuris brumalis</em>), <a href="https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/browse/profile/12943">endemic to Western Australia</a>. This non-rewarding, food deceptive plant blooms at the same time as rewarding native pea plants (<em>Daviesia</em>). </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507769/original/file-20230202-17-45084q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A yellow flower with two large petals on top and a similar orange flower next to it" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507769/original/file-20230202-17-45084q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507769/original/file-20230202-17-45084q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507769/original/file-20230202-17-45084q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507769/original/file-20230202-17-45084q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507769/original/file-20230202-17-45084q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507769/original/file-20230202-17-45084q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507769/original/file-20230202-17-45084q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A winter donkey orchid (left) and a prickly bitter-pea.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cal Wood/iNaturalist;
caitlind164/iNaturalist</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As a result, native <em>Trichocolletes</em> bees appear to mistake the orchid for legume plants <a href="https://academic.oup.com/aob/article/122/6/1061/5088838">frequently enough</a> that the orchid gets pollinated.</p>
<p>We quantified the flower colour signals from both plants, revealing the main component of the visual information perceived by a bee was in the short wavelength UV region of the spectrum.</p>
<p>This made sense – while our vision sees blue, green and red wavelengths of light as primary colours, bees can see UV reflected light <a href="https://theconversation.com/our-bee-eye-camera-helps-us-support-bees-grow-food-and-protect-the-environment-110022">but lack a channel for perceiving primary red</a>.</p>
<p>By using computer models of bee pollinator perception, we observed the orchid mimic species and the native pea plant species did actually look similar in colour to bees.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507759/original/file-20230202-3738-nxfh9e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A chart showing two images of flowers, a larger yellow one and a smaller one, with graphs next to them" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507759/original/file-20230202-3738-nxfh9e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507759/original/file-20230202-3738-nxfh9e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507759/original/file-20230202-3738-nxfh9e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507759/original/file-20230202-3738-nxfh9e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507759/original/file-20230202-3738-nxfh9e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507759/original/file-20230202-3738-nxfh9e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507759/original/file-20230202-3738-nxfh9e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Flower shape and colour properties of an orchid (upper row) and a native pea flower (lower row) shown in the field, as individual flowers, and with spectral measurements.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.9759">Scaccabarozzi et al., 2023</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Putting a UV block on flowers</h2>
<p>What was surprising, however, was the non-rewarding orchid flowers – pollinated by deception – actually have more conspicuous advertising for bee vision.</p>
<p>For example, the main display outer flower petals were significantly larger on the orchid plants, and also produced a stronger UV colour signal.</p>
<p>To understand if such signalling was biologically relevant, we next conducted field experiments with the plants. We used a special UV sun-blocking solution to remove the strong UV signals in half of the orchid species, whilst the other half retained their natural appearance.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507760/original/file-20230202-1411-nxfh9e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A row of colourful and greyscale images showing flowers next to a hexagonal chart" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507760/original/file-20230202-1411-nxfh9e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507760/original/file-20230202-1411-nxfh9e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=235&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507760/original/file-20230202-1411-nxfh9e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=235&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507760/original/file-20230202-1411-nxfh9e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=235&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507760/original/file-20230202-1411-nxfh9e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=296&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507760/original/file-20230202-1411-nxfh9e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=296&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507760/original/file-20230202-1411-nxfh9e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=296&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">UV photographs of orchid flowers (upper left panel) in natural state and also with applied UV blocking screen. Middle panels show false-colour photographs of flower appearance for a bee, and right hand panel a computer model of how bee vision perceives flower colours.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.9759">Scaccabarozzi et al., 2023</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the completion of the field season, several months latter, we could measure which plants were more successfully pollinated by bees, revealing the strong UV signals had a significant role in promoting pollination in the orchids.</p>
<p>A second interesting finding of the field experiments was the distance between the pea flowers and their copycat orchids was a major factor in the success of the orchids’ deception strategy.</p>
<p>If the orchids with strong UV signals were within close proximity – a meter or two – to the rewarding native pea flowers, the deception was less successful and few orchid flowers were pollinated. However, if the deceptive orchids were about eight meters away from the rewarding model species, this produced the highest success rate in pollination.</p>
<h2>Why deception works</h2>
<p>It turns out a distance of about eight meters is important because of the way bee brains process colour. When bees see a pair of colours in close proximity, they can evaluate them at the same time. This leads to <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00359-005-0622-z">very precise colour matching</a>. A similar process happens in human brains – we also have <a href="https://opg.optica.org/josa/abstract.cfm?uri=josa-47-1-43">to see colours at the same time</a>. </p>
<p>However, seeing colour stimuli with a time interval in between means the brain has to remember the first colour, inspect the second colour, and make a mental calculation about whether the two samples are indeed the same. </p>
<p>Neither bee brains, nor our own, are good at successive colour comparisons. This is why when we purchase paint for a repair job we take a sample to get a precise match, rather than try and remember what we thought the colour should look like.</p>
<p>Deceptive flowers are successful by exploiting this perceptual gap in how brains have to code information when bees need to fly several meters in search of more food.</p>
<p>By using a “look at me” strategy (essentially, better advertising than other plants) it is possible to survive in nature without actually offering a food reward to the pollinators. To do this, the plants need to be at an optimal distance from the plants they are mimicking. Not too close and not too far, and success is assured.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/like-finding-life-on-mars-why-the-underground-orchid-is-australias-strangest-most-mysterious-flower-144727">'Like finding life on Mars': why the underground orchid is Australia's strangest, most mysterious flower</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198980/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adrian Dyer receives funding from The Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Endeavor Fellowship Program grant ID 5117_2016 (Daniela Scaccabarozzi)
Templeton World Charity Foundation grant TWCF0541 (Monica Gagliano)</span></em></p>Orchids give nothing in return to pollinators, so how come they get visited by bees anyway? The answer is trickery and deceit.Adrian Dyer, Associate Professor, Monash UniversityDaniela Scaccabarozzi, Uppsala UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1978772023-01-20T13:37:12Z2023-01-20T13:37:12ZAll politicians must lie from time to time, so why is there so much outrage about George Santos? A political philosopher explains<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505395/original/file-20230119-21-2g8xoy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=24%2C49%2C8215%2C5436&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Rep. George Santos stands during the voting for speaker in the House chamber in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 5, 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Congress/e1fa5af411b547e38518f188d6d654ea/photo?Query=george%20santos&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=104&currentItemNo=27">AP Photo/Andrew Harnik</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The idea that politicians are dishonest is, at this point, something of a cliché – although few have taken their dishonesty as far as George Santos, U.S. representative for New York’s 3rd Congressional District, who <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/01/the-everything-guide-to-george-santoss-lies.html">seems to have lied about</a> his education, work history, charitable activity, athletic prowess and even his place of residence. </p>
<p>Santos may be exceptional in how many lies he has told, but politicians seeking election have incentives to tell voters what they want to hear – and there is some empirical evidence that a willingness to lie may be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2008144117">helpful in the process of getting elected</a>.</p>
<p>If this is true, though, then why should voters care that they have been lied to? </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://phil.washington.edu/people/michael-blake">political philosopher</a> whose work focuses on the moral foundations of democratic politics, I am interested in the moral reasons voters in general have a right to feel resentment when they discover that their elected representatives have lied to them. Political philosophers offer four distinct responses to this question – although none of these responses suggest that all lies are necessarily morally wrong.</p>
<h2>1. Lying is manipulative</h2>
<p>The first reason to resent being lied to is that it is a form of disrespect. When you lie to me, you treat me as a thing to be manipulated and used for your purposes. In the terms used by philosopher Immanuel Kant, when you lie to me you treat me as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9833.2010.01507.x">a means or a tool</a>, rather than a person with a moral status equal to your own. </p>
<p>Kant himself took this principle as a reason to condemn all lies, however useful – but other philosophers have thought that some lies were so important that they might be compatible with, or even express, respect for citizens. </p>
<p>Plato, notably, argues in “The Republic” that when the public good requires a leader to lie, the citizens should be <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0168%3Abook%3D3%3Apage%3D389">grateful for the deceptions of their leaders</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.ias.edu/scholars/walzer">Michael Walzer</a>, a modern political philosopher, echoes this idea. Politics requires the building of coalitions and the making of deals – which, in a world full of moral compromise, may entail being deceptive about what one is planning and why. As Walzer puts it, no one succeeds in politics without <a href="http://fs2.american.edu/dfagel/www/Philosophers/Walzer/PoliticaAction_TheProblemofDirtyHabnds.pdf">being willing to dirty their hands</a> – and voters should prefer politicians to get their hands dirty, if that is the cost of effective political agency. </p>
<h2>2. Abuse of trust</h2>
<p>A second reason to resent lies begins with the idea of predictability. If our candidates lie to us, we cannot know what they really plan to do – and, hence, cannot trust that we are voting for the candidate who will best represent our interests.</p>
<p>Modern political philosopher <a href="https://scholar.harvard.edu/beerbohm/home">Eric Beerbohm</a> argues that when politicians speak to us, they invite us to trust them – and a politician who lies to us <a href="https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/beerbohm/files/beerbohm_the_ethics_of_electioneering_jpp.pdf">abuses that trust</a>, in a way that we may rightly resent. </p>
<p>These ideas are powerful, but they also seem to have some limits. Voters may not need to believe candidates’ words in order to understand their intentions and thereby come to accurate beliefs about what they plan to do. </p>
<p>To take one recent example: The majority of those who voted for Donald Trump in 2016, when he was trumpeting the idea of making Mexico pay for a border wall, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/09/14/even-trump-voters-think-mexico-paying-for-the-wall-is-kind-of-a-joke/">did not believe that it was actually possible</a> to build a wall that would be paid for by Mexico. They did not take Trump to be describing a literal truth, but expressing an untruth that was indicative of Trump’s overall attitude toward migration and toward Mexico – and voted for him on the basis of that attitude. </p>
<h2>3. Electoral mandate</h2>
<p>The third reason we might resent lies told on the campaign trail stems from the idea of an electoral mandate. Philosopher John Locke, whose writings influenced the Declaration of Independence, regarded political authority as stemming from the <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/7370/7370-h/7370-h.htm#CHAPTER_VII">consent of the governed</a>; this consent might be illegitimate were it to be obtained by means of deception.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505396/original/file-20230119-17-r25b8l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black and white engraving of a man with shoulder-length hair" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505396/original/file-20230119-17-r25b8l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505396/original/file-20230119-17-r25b8l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=768&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505396/original/file-20230119-17-r25b8l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=768&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505396/original/file-20230119-17-r25b8l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=768&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505396/original/file-20230119-17-r25b8l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=965&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505396/original/file-20230119-17-r25b8l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=965&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505396/original/file-20230119-17-r25b8l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=965&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Philosopher John Locke championed the idea of the consent of the governed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/john-locke-english-philosopher-undated-engraving-news-photo/517391868?phrase=Philosopher%20John%20Locke&adppopup=true">Bettmann via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This idea, too, has power – but it also runs up against the sophistication of both modern elections and modern voters. Campaigns do not pretend to give a dispassionate description of political ideals, after all. They are closer to rhetorical forms of combat and involve considerable amounts of <a href="https://www.washingtonian.com/2016/02/09/the-history-of-political-spin-in-washington-dc-and-why-its-not-so-bad-for-us-as-youd-think/">deliberate ambiguity, rhetorical presentation and self-interested spin</a>. </p>
<p>More to the point, though, voters understand this context and rarely regard any candidate’s presentation as stemming solely from a concern for the unalloyed truth.</p>
<h2>4. Unnecessary and disprovable</h2>
<p>The lies of George Santos, however, do seem to have provoked something like <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/12/29/1146096826/rep-elect-george-santos-faces-growing-anger-from-new-york-voters">resentment and outrage</a>, which suggests that they are somehow unlike the usual forms of deceptive practice undertaken during political campaigns. And this fact leads to the final reason to resent deception, which is that voters do not accept being lied to unnecessarily – nor about matters subject to easy empirical proof or disproof. </p>
<p>It seems clear that voters may sometimes be willing to accept deceptive and dissembling political candidates, given the fact that effective political agency may involve the use of deceptive means. Santos, however, lied about matters as tangential to politics as his nonexistent history as a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/01/11/santos-lies-volleyball/">star player for Baruch College’s volleyball team</a>. This lie was unnecessary, given its tenuous relationship to his candidacy for the House of Representatives – and easily disproved, given the fact that he did not actually attend Baruch.</p>
<p>I believe voters may have made their peace with some deceptive campaign practices. If Walzer is right, they should expect that an effective candidate will be imperfectly honest at best. But candidates who are both liars and bad at lying can find no such justification, since they are unlikely to be believed and thus incapable of achieving those goods that justify their deception. </p>
<p>If voters have made their peace with some degree of lying, in short, they are nonetheless still capable of resenting candidates who are unskilled at the craft of political deception.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197877/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Blake receives funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities.</span></em></p>Constituents’ willingness to overlook deception may depend, in part, on whether politicians lie well and with a good purpose.Michael Blake, Professor of Philosophy, Public Policy and Governance, University of WashingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1890262022-09-14T12:22:39Z2022-09-14T12:22:39Z50 years ago, an artist convincingly exhibited a fake Iron Age civilization – with invented maps, music and artifacts<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484405/original/file-20220913-3841-j43d1i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=2%2C3%2C846%2C547&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'Trallib (Oil Container),' by Norman Daly, 1970. Daily made this object with an orange juicer.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Marilyn Rivchin</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Invented civilizations are usually thought of as the stuff of sci-fi novels and video games, not museums. </p>
<p>Yet in 1972, the <a href="https://civilizationofllhuros.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/A.D.-White-Museum-Press-Release-for-Civilization-of-Llhuria-1972.pdf">Andrew Dickson White Museum of Art</a> at Cornell University exhibited “The Civilization of Llhuros,” an imaginary Iron Age civilization. Created by Cornell Professor of Art <a href="https://civilizationofllhuros.org/about-the-artist/norman-daly/">Norman Daly</a>, who died in 2008, the show resembled a real archaeological exhibition with more than 150 objects on display.</p>
<p>Unaware of Llhuros, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Kz5_ZEOC1A">I started fabricating and documenting</a> my own imaginary ancient culture using ceramics and printmaking for my undergraduate thesis in 1980. The following year, as a graduate student, I learned about Llhuros and began a decadeslong correspondence with Daly. </p>
<p>With <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-nigerian-prince-scams-continue-to-dupe-us-98232">scams</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-scammers-like-anna-delvey-and-the-tinder-swindler-exploit-a-core-feature-of-human-nature-177289">deceptions</a> and <a href="https://direct.mit.edu/books/book/4625/Fake-NewsUnderstanding-Media-and-Misinformation-in">lies</a> flourishing in our digital age, an art exhibition that convincingly presents fiction as fact has particular currency.</p>
<h2>A culture made from scratch</h2>
<p>Daly’s project was truly groundbreaking. The exhibition included a map of the excavation sites, old tools and religious artifacts that Daly had crafted, all from the culture’s distinct periods – “<a href="https://civilizationofllhuros.org/galleries/early-archaic/">Early Archaic</a>,” “<a href="https://civilizationofllhuros.org/galleries/archaic/">Archaic</a>,” “<a href="https://civilizationofllhuros.org/galleries/late-archaic/">Late Archaic</a>,” “<a href="https://civilizationofllhuros.org/galleries/middle/">Middle Period</a>” and “<a href="https://civilizationofllhuros.org/galleries/decline/">Decline</a>.” </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483354/original/file-20220907-15616-6xdmsq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A stone shield." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483354/original/file-20220907-15616-6xdmsq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483354/original/file-20220907-15616-6xdmsq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483354/original/file-20220907-15616-6xdmsq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483354/original/file-20220907-15616-6xdmsq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483354/original/file-20220907-15616-6xdmsq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=739&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483354/original/file-20220907-15616-6xdmsq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=739&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483354/original/file-20220907-15616-6xdmsq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=739&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Lacunarium (Decorative Shield with Salamanders),’ by Norman Daly.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://civilizationofllhuros.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/92-1.jpg">Photo by Linda Fisher.</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There were translations of <a href="https://civilizationofllhuros.org/media/poetry-of-llhuros/">Llhuroscian poetry</a> that Daly had written; soundtracks with reenactments of <a href="https://civilizationofllhuros.org/narrative/ceremonies-and-rituals/">Llhuroscian ceremonies</a> and songs performed by a women’s church choir; <a href="https://civilizationofllhuros.org/media/international-tv-interview/">audio interviews</a> with fake Llhurosian scholars; and <a href="https://civilizationofllhuros.org/about-the-artist/catalogs-and-posters/">a 56-page exhibition catalog</a> with an invented bibliography and <a href="https://civilizationofllhuros.org/resources/llhuroscian-glossary/">glossary of Llhuroscian terms</a>.</p>
<p>Daly – with guidance from <a href="https://www.marilynrivchinmedia.com/">Marilyn Rivchin</a>, a museum staffer; and <a href="https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/theithacajournal/name/robert-ascher-obituary?id=12637791">Robert Ascher</a>, a Cornell anthropology and archaeology professor – conceived everything.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484401/original/file-20220913-4004-252m1j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A humanoid sculture made from a dish bottle." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484401/original/file-20220913-4004-252m1j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484401/original/file-20220913-4004-252m1j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=869&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484401/original/file-20220913-4004-252m1j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=869&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484401/original/file-20220913-4004-252m1j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=869&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484401/original/file-20220913-4004-252m1j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1091&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484401/original/file-20220913-4004-252m1j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1091&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484401/original/file-20220913-4004-252m1j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1091&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Trallib (Oil Container),’ by Norman Daly, 1970. Daly fabricated this sculpture using an Ivory dish soap bottle.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Marion Wesp</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To the casual viewer, Llhuros appeared to be real. The artifacts and tools were often made from found objects – an Ivory dish-soap bottle transformed into an earthenware figure, or a “nasal flute found at the early excavations at Lamplö” made from a metal stove burner. Many of the objects were cracked and broken, with patinas and incrustations making them appear as if they’d survived centuries. The tension between real and fake was tangible.</p>
<p>At the time, the exhibition attracted enthusiastic reviews in <a href="https://civilizationofllhuros.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/The-Fabulous-Llhuroscians-Newsweek-02281972.pdf">Newsweek</a> and <a href="https://civilizationofllhuros.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/The-Civilization-of-Llhuros-The-New-Repbulic-Kenneth-Evett-On-Art-1972-01-12.pdf">The New Republic</a>. But the New York art world largely overlooked it.</p>
<h2>Testing the viewer’s grasp of reality</h2>
<p>Prior to creating “The Civilization of Llhuros,” Daly was making paintings and sculptural reliefs influenced by <a href="https://normandaly.com/galleries/southwest-series-1946-49/">Native American and prehistoric art</a>. </p>
<p>His earlier work had much in common with other 20th century artists, <a href="https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/1907">from Pablo Picasso to Max Ernst</a>, who drew inspiration from art outside of the European canon. These artists questioned Western academic traditions and valued the direct and expressive forms found in African and Native American art. This approach to making art <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/jun/14/masks-monsters-masterpieces-yinka-shonibare-picasso-africa">can be problematic</a>, since there’s an element of cultural appropriation. But it also speaks to a desire to connect with universal aspects of human culture.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484096/original/file-20220912-1755-2qj1vk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Bald man with glasses and beared working at a potter's wheel." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484096/original/file-20220912-1755-2qj1vk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484096/original/file-20220912-1755-2qj1vk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=858&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484096/original/file-20220912-1755-2qj1vk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=858&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484096/original/file-20220912-1755-2qj1vk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=858&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484096/original/file-20220912-1755-2qj1vk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1078&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484096/original/file-20220912-1755-2qj1vk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1078&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484096/original/file-20220912-1755-2qj1vk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1078&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Norman Daly in his studio, 1971.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Marilyn Rivchin</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So why would Daly shift his creative practice to the mock-documentary form, creating an entire fake culture in the form of a museum exhibition?</p>
<p>A few key moments cultivated the idea.</p>
<p>One of his tall sculptural works had been exhibited in a faculty dining room. But people kept mistaking it for a hat rack, which frustrated Daly: He assumed that the value of an artwork was self-evident and that it should be able to “speak for itself.” Clearly, that wasn’t always the case. So by creating an exhibition – replete with a catalog, visual guides and explanatory labels – he could extend the meaning of his visual art. If the art object does not speak for itself, why not fabricate a narrative as part of the show? </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484098/original/file-20220912-6429-vbrrt2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Metal sculpture made from various found objects." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484098/original/file-20220912-6429-vbrrt2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484098/original/file-20220912-6429-vbrrt2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=938&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484098/original/file-20220912-6429-vbrrt2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=938&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484098/original/file-20220912-6429-vbrrt2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=938&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484098/original/file-20220912-6429-vbrrt2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1179&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484098/original/file-20220912-6429-vbrrt2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1179&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484098/original/file-20220912-6429-vbrrt2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1179&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Home Votive,’ metal assemblage, by Norman Daly, 1965.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Emil Gingher</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another realization came to Daly while attending a performance of contemporary music. At the concert, he observed that the audience was working hard to resist the random interference of auditory distractions, from program rustlers to feet shufflers. Daly considered ways that a visual artist could employ what he called “planned interference” to provoke deeper audience engagement with the work.</p>
<p>This insight compelled him to use a variety of ironic signals to disrupt the credibility of the museum narrative and test the viewer’s understanding whether Llhuros was real or invented. He might assemble a massive bronze temple door from plastic foam packing cartons, or create an oil lamp that resembles an orange juicer. </p>
<p>For Daly, stories about the Llhuroscians are also about what it is to be human, with themes of guilt, desire and faith appearing in many of the works. With his recurring “stilt walker,” he depicts a religious pilgrim who carries a bird on his head, walking on stilts of different lengths. The self-imposed struggle of the man, who appears across several works, comes from the guilt he feels. </p>
<h2>The art of fraud</h2>
<p>Like Daly, I was interested in the use of documentary forms to present works of fiction. My mock-documentary exhibitions have shifted from archaeological themes to include <a href="https://volweb.utk.edu/%7Eblyons/medical_gallery1.htm">anatomical prints</a>, <a href="https://old.post-gazette.com/magazine/20010118artpreviewmag2.asp">a collection of contemporary folk art</a>, <a href="https://gregg.arts.ncsu.edu/exhibitions/virtual-tours/fantastic-fauna-chimeric-creatures/">a creationist organization from the 1920s</a>, and <a href="http://volweb.utk.edu/%7Eblyons/">an early 20th century circus</a>. I am drawn to this form of art because I am inspired by the idea of inventing artworks that appear to have the authority of history.</p>
<p>In her 2021 book, “<a href="https://doppelhouse.com/sting-in-the-tale/">Sting in the Tale: Art, Hoax and Provocation</a>,” artist and writer <a href="http://www.antoinettelafarge.com/bio.html">Antoinette LaFarge</a> describes Daly’s approach as a form of “fictive art,” arguing that the mock-documentary uses of historical forms, as well as “self-outing” through ironic signals, have significance for a contemporary culture saturated with misinformation. </p>
<p>There are, of course, precedents: In his 1917 <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/4/1/11346940/bathtub-history-prank-april-fools">bathtub hoax</a>, journalist and satirist <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/H-L-Mencken">H.L. Mencken</a> presented a fabricated history of bathtubs in America. P.T. Barnum became known for his creative hoaxes, which included his <a href="https://www.livescience.com/56037-feejee-mermaid.html">Feejee mermaid specimen</a>, made from an orangutan and a salmon. Where Mencken sought to teach the American public about their gullibility, Barnum wanted to make a quick buck and didn’t care whether his audience believed the ruse. Fictive art draws on this history to create relevant works of contemporary art.</p>
<p>To mark the 50th anniversary of “The Civilization of Llhuros,” I have organized <a href="https://symposium.civilizationofllhuros.org/">a free, daylong virtual symposium</a> to be held on Oct. 8, 2022. An international roster of presenters will discuss Daly’s exhibition and his legacy as a teacher. It will also feature contemporary artists who work with Llhuros as a paradigm. </p>
<p>Today, <a href="https://www.factcheck.org/">fact-checking outlets</a> <a href="https://thenewstack.io/deep-learning-ai-tool-identifies-fake-news-with-automated-fact-checking/">and algorithms</a> help people spot deception and misinformation. But art that tests your perceptions of what is real – allowing you to suspend your disbelief, while also giving you the opportunity to recognize the tools of deception – can play a role, too.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189026/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Beauvais Lyons does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Norman Daly’s 1972 exhibition, ‘The Civilization of Llhuros,’ presented fiction as fact – and reminded viewers of just how easily they could be duped.Beauvais Lyons, Chancellor’s Professor of Art, University of TennesseeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1873262022-09-14T12:21:25Z2022-09-14T12:21:25ZLies are more common on laptops than on phones – how devices may shape our behavior when bargaining with strangers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482528/original/file-20220902-12-14z84h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=160%2C185%2C8082%2C5302&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A deceptive device? </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/cropped-shot-of-womans-hand-typing-on-computer-royalty-free-image/1309760275">d3sign/Moment via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/research-brief-83231">Research Brief</a> is a short take about interesting academic work.</em> </p>
<h2>The big idea</h2>
<p>People appear to be more willing to lie for personal gain when they use a laptop versus a smartphone, our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCMA-10-2021-0157">new peer-reviewed research</a> shows. Given that the two devices have nearly identical technical capabilities – they’re both boxes with electronic brains – this surprised us and highlights the psychological impact of technology.</p>
<p>Our first in a planned series of studies was a version of what economists call the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/ultimatum-game">ultimatum game</a>. In the take-it-or-leave-it exercise, one player is told they’ll receive a certain sum of money, some of which they must split with a partner. But they can tell their partner whatever they choose about the total sum and how much of it they’re willing to offer – allowing them to lie and keep more of the kitty for themselves. However, the partner must agree to the offered sum for either of them to get any money. </p>
<p>In our version, we told 137 graduate students to imagine they’d share US$125 with a fellow student, if their randomly assigned partner agreed to the deal. Half of them used a laptop; the rest participated with their smartphone. </p>
<p>While the vast majority of participants fibbed at least a little, laptop users were much more likely to lie – and by a lot more. Eighty-two percent of laptop participants were deceptive, compared with 62% of phone users, and on average claimed the pot was $20 less. </p>
<p>Although this was hypothetical and didn’t involve real money, previous <a href="http://www.doi.org/10.1037/a0018627">research by us</a> and <a href="http://www.doi.org/10.1177/002200277802200102">other</a> <a href="http://www.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.37.6.833">scholars</a> shows that these scenarios are good at predicting actual behavior. </p>
<p>To see if our finding held up in a more real-world scenario, we devised a negotiation experiment in which two people were told to barter over the purchase price of an imaginary semiconductor factory one of them owned. We split 222 students into buyers and sellers. Buyers were confidentially told that the market value of the property was estimated at $21 million. </p>
<p>We then asked buyers to tell sellers what they thought was the fair market value of the property and make an initial offer. Like in the first experiment, about half of the students used their phones and the others negotiated on laptops. </p>
<p>Again, laptop users were more deceptive. On average, they told sellers the fair value was $16.7 million – lowballing it by over $4 million – compared with $18.1 million for phone participants. In both cases, their actual offers were only slightly higher than what they said was the market value.</p>
<p>To find out what’s going on, we asked participants of a separate study about their associations with each device and found a consistent pattern. Phones triggered associations of friends and family, and laptops led to thoughts of work, success and accomplishments – which <a href="http://www.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-020-04729-5">previous research</a> has shown can trigger unethical behavior.</p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>People’s use of technology in decision-making can subtly yet fundamentally shift the way our brains work. </p>
<p>In past work, we found that people <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018627">lie more frequently</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11211-008-0084-x">cooperate less</a> and <a href="http://www.doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2005.07.001">evaluate others more negatively</a> when they conduct tasks virtually as opposed to in person, with physical tools like pens and paper. </p>
<p>While studies like ours can’t perfectly predict how behavior will play out in real life, these experiments do offer more evidence of the subtle ways technology can alter human behavior. </p>
<h2>What still isn’t known</h2>
<p>We don’t know whether our findings would hold for other tasks and within the context of existing relationships. Even within our experiments, other factors may be affecting people’s choice to lie, such as different screen sizes or locations.</p>
<p>Our research shows the continued need to assess how technological tools are used in real settings, including the unconscious changes these devices might have on daily decisions and ethical standards.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187326/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Terri R. Kurtzberg receives funding from Rutgers University. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles Naquin receives funding from DePaul University. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mason Ameri does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A new study found that the device people used to communicate in a negotiation made a big difference in how likely they were to deceive for personal gain.Terri R. Kurtzberg, Associate Professor of Management and Global Business, Rutgers University - NewarkCharles Naquin, Associate Professor of Management, DePaul UniversityMason Ameri, Associate Professor of Professional Practice, Rutgers University - NewarkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1805302022-04-07T12:27:18Z2022-04-07T12:27:18Z‘Is It Cake?’ feeds viewers visual catharsis for uncertain times<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456223/original/file-20220404-30716-3n1wlb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C4%2C835%2C516&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Burger or baked good?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.cnet.com/a/img/resize/f9d9550d602c9abf100f9663baaffd23f15f69f7/2022/03/25/06098a0a-c226-4424-819c-211b105f9c71/is-it-cake-netflix-series-3.jpg?auto=webp&width=940">Netflix</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>I doubt that even Netflix expected “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt18314214/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Is It Cake?</a>” to be such <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/is-it-cake-netflix-winner-host-mikey-day-b2042843.html">a hit</a>.</p>
<p>The premise, if you haven’t already binged the TV series, involves professional bakers trying to fool judges by creating cakes that don’t look like dessert but instead appear to be everyday commodities – <a href="https://occ-0-2794-2219.1.nflxso.net/dnm/api/v6/E8vDc_W8CLv7-yMQu8KMEC7Rrr8/AAAABZ263WWcK5gKK7LvJSx-mfmc-vPlDxMahyf9oNCPHOoe3hcatZiOsBiXcHbfowZ2q4HKuEFCnv41SZb7oM-Dqfj3ht9L.jpg?r=342">purses</a>, <a href="https://occ-0-2794-2219.1.nflxso.net/dnm/api/v6/9pS1daC2n6UGc3dUogvWIPMR_OU/AAAABWiTDRMaTxiw8m-lnI4SYcwJ7z6xHtAgPALKsHSt3c_LCnEiMWEglFla-yF3a5ZL9g4deWNrfvkRXaGzs04SyYagzQZgDDp1SbK4lLP_y5BiZMl-.jpg?r=697">toys</a>, <a href="https://www.cnet.com/a/img/resize/f9d9550d602c9abf100f9663baaffd23f15f69f7/2022/03/25/06098a0a-c226-4424-819c-211b105f9c71/is-it-cake-netflix-series-3.jpg?auto=webp&width=940">fast food</a>.</p>
<p>But while most critics see this as just another iteration of mindless TV, I see “Is It Cake?” as deeply tied to a cultural moment in which deception – and learning how to recognize it – has become a part of everyday life.</p>
<p>A show like “Is It Cake?” offers a safe way for viewers to test their capacity to spot a fake. This may seem like a stretch; cake and conspiracy are hardly the same thing. </p>
<p>Yet as an art historian who researches <a href="https://art.unc.edu/people/art-history-faculty/maggie-cao/">the history of visual deception</a>, I’ve noticed that throughout American history, moments of social anxiety around truth tend to be accompanied by similar “fool the eye” pop culture phenomena, from <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-greatest-showman-paved-the-way-for-donald-trump-85212">P.T. Barnum’s hoaxes</a> to a painting technique called “<a href="http://arthistorynewsreport.blogspot.com/2022/02/hyperreal-art-of-trompe-loeil.html">trompe l’oeil</a>.” </p>
<h2>Guessing games</h2>
<p>In the last decades of the 19th century, while the art world was enamored with Van Gogh and Matisse, middle-class Americans became obsessed with trompe l’oeil paintings – hyperrealistic still lifes that featured life-size everyday objects. They looked so real that people reportedly tried to <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/William_M_Harnett/K47qAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0">grab painted violins and dollar bills off the wall</a>.</p>
<p>Even those prone to suspicion could fall victim, because the paintings were exhibited without frames and <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/William_M_Harnett/K47qAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0">in atypical settings</a> like pubs, shop windows and hotel lobbies. In these quintessential urban public spaces, the act of being fooled became a collective social experience, much as it is on “Is It Cake?” Not only are viewers taking pleasure in the failure of the on-screen judges, but the judges themselves must also reach a collective verdict after 20 seconds of debate. </p>
<p>One particular <a href="https://collections.brandywine.org/objects/6114/which-is-which?ctx=5ebd1c52-4dae-46cb-ac0d-ff52bd23582e&idx=978">1890 painting of stamps</a> is remarkably reminiscent of a bit called “Cash or Cake” that closes out each episode of “Is It Cake?” The painting, by Jefferson Chalfant, unassumingly features two Lincoln stamps side by side, one painted, the other real. Below them, a painted news clipping invites viewers to decide which is which.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two stamps featuring Abraham Lincoln's visage appear side by side." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456221/original/file-20220404-11-xqg05i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456221/original/file-20220404-11-xqg05i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456221/original/file-20220404-11-xqg05i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456221/original/file-20220404-11-xqg05i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456221/original/file-20220404-11-xqg05i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456221/original/file-20220404-11-xqg05i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456221/original/file-20220404-11-xqg05i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jefferson Chalfant’s 1890 painting ‘Which is Which?’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://collections.brandywine.org/internal/media/dispatcher/1005/resize%3Aformat%3Dfull">Brandywine River Museum of Art</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On the show, the winning baker faces this exact predicament when offered the opportunity to win bonus prize money: Guess which of two containers overflowing with cash is actual money, and which is cake. The point of the confounding exercise is to show that even the most talented illusionists can be made the fool. </p>
<p>Self-conscious humor was also central to trompe l’oeil. Rather than signing their names as artists are apt to do, trompe l’oeil painters often painted their own photographs or letters addressed to their studio into their still lifes as an inside joke. </p>
<p>In the past, what fascinated Americans about trompe l’oeil was not just that they could be tricked by talented artists, but the how and why of their deceptions. The <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Public_Opinion/UuM_AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=william+harnett+secret+service&pg=PA198&printsec=frontcover">Secret Service questioned one painter</a> named William Harnett after he painted a wrinkled five-dollar bill.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456421/original/file-20220405-15-tlfbxm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Painting of violin hanging with sheet music behind it." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456421/original/file-20220405-15-tlfbxm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456421/original/file-20220405-15-tlfbxm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=955&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456421/original/file-20220405-15-tlfbxm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=955&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456421/original/file-20220405-15-tlfbxm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=955&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456421/original/file-20220405-15-tlfbxm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1200&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456421/original/file-20220405-15-tlfbxm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1200&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456421/original/file-20220405-15-tlfbxm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1200&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">William Michael Harnett’s 1886 trompe l’oeil ‘The Old Violin.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.79531.html">National Gallery of Art</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another, John Haberle, had one of his paintings forensically examined by a panel of experts who observed it <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=kTJuVN1xjk8C&pg=PA117&lpg=PA117&dq=%22The+lens+was+used,+the+paint+was+rubbed+off,+and+the+whole+ingenious+design+proved+really+a+work+of+imitative+art%22&source=bl&ots=SmfkwlMH2h&sig=ACfU3U1hmcz1N_IpXkkEZiy9MC9ZsbtMOg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjL14Lj3fr2AhUVgnIEHYWBBTYQ6AF6BAgCEAM#v=onepage&q=%22The%20lens%20was%20used%2C%20the%20paint%20was%20rubbed%20off%2C%20and%20the%20whole%20ingenious%20design%20proved%20really%20a%20work%20of%20imitative%20art%22&f=false">under a lens and even rubbed off</a> some of the paint. </p>
<p>This investigative penchant explains the curious genealogy of “Is It Cake?”
The show traces its roots to a series of <a href="https://www.instagram.com/redrosecake_tubageckil/">viral Instagram videos</a> from 2020 that featured illusionistic cakes at their moment of denouement.</p>
<p>Most viral videos don’t become television series, but this one has because the esoteric process of creating the illusion equally fascinates, even if viewers have no fondant-focused aspirations.</p>
<h2>A sugary allegory</h2>
<p>Trompe l’oeil is an ancient art form, but it exploded in the United States, and nowhere else, in the 19th century because <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Looking_Askance/EWHdRBuIQDcC?hl=en&gbpv=0">deception was a new and particularly American problem</a>. </p>
<p>Cities and industries were growing more rapidly than ever before, and many Americans moving from rural areas faced urban anonymity for the first time. Cities were rife with crooked opportunists, from <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=uCjgwIuJz1IC&printsec=frontcover&dq=isbn:0674026578&hl=&cd=1&source=gbs_api#v=onepage&q&f=false">con artists to counterfeiters</a> – <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-scammers-like-anna-delvey-and-the-tinder-swindler-exploit-a-core-feature-of-human-nature-177289">the Anna Delveys and Tinder Swindlers of their day</a>. Trust was a tricky matter. </p>
<p>In this milieu, trompe l’oeil had a social function. It gave Americans an outlet for testing their discernment in a manageable and pleasurable way.</p>
<p>[<em>Over 150,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletters to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-150ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>So it doesn’t surprise me that the gravitation toward a show like “Is it Cake?” is happening at a time when <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/07/world/asia/misinformation-disinformation-fake-news.html">more ominous deceptions lurk in the media landscape</a>. There are even moments when the show veers in darkly suggestive directions. In one episode, the bakers collectively try to educate host Mikey Day by teaching him the term “tiltscape,” which, they explain, has to do with the balance and weight distribution of baked goods. After Day uses the word in his appraisal of the contestants’ work, they later reveal that the term was a hoax all along – a sugary allegory for socially fueled misinformation. </p>
<p>At a time when we often don’t know if what we encounter on our screens can be trusted, it feels good to alleviate those anxieties with a show in which the only consequence of being fooled is cutting into a shoe that we assumed was a cake.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180530/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maggie Cao does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The ‘fool the eye’ cakes hearken back to popular paintings from another period in American history when there was anxiety over fakes, fraudsters and misinformation.Maggie Cao, David G. Frey Assistant Professor of Art History, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1778792022-02-24T22:48:41Z2022-02-24T22:48:41ZWhat are false flag attacks – and did Russia stage any to claim justification for invading Ukraine?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/448405/original/file-20220224-13-1ii1q5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5166%2C3441&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A military vehicle destroyed on Feb. 18, 2022, by an explosion in Donetsk, a city in eastern Ukraine controlled by Russian separatists.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/car-blown-up-on-a-parking-lot-outside-a-government-building-news-photo/1238595237">Nikolai Trishin\TASS via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Russian assault on Ukraine, which began in the early hours of Feb. 24, 2022, was launched after weeks of Russian disinformation that included false claims about Ukrainian terrorist attacks, assaults on civilians and military aggression against the self-proclaimed breakaway republics in eastern Ukraine.</p>
<p>Observers have been on the lookout for a Russian “false flag” attack, a highly visible event that Russia could use as justification for taking military action. False flag attacks are attacks by a government on its own forces to create the appearance of hostile action by an opponent, allowing the government to broadcast images to the world of its opponent’s supposed actions.</p>
<p>The Kremlin and pro-government propagandists on television and social media have put out a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-media-cites-videos-maybe-pretext-invade-ukraine-2022-2">variety of claims</a> accusing Ukraine of carrying out bombings, blaming Ukraine for nonexistent attacks and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/19/business/russia-has-been-laying-groundwork-online-for-a-false-flag-operation-misinformation-researchers-say.html">warning</a> of nefarious future Ukrainian and Western plots, including false flag operations. The claims include a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-official-accused-russia-car-bombing-rebel-held-ukraine-2022-2">car bombing</a> and an <a href="https://tass.com/emergencies/1405995">alleged attempt by Ukrainian saboteurs</a> to blow up a chemical storage facility, both in separatist eastern Ukraine. The messaging is meant to create an impression of a Ukrainian onslaught and impending humanitarian crisis.</p>
<p>If Russia attempted actual false flag attacks, they were one element of a larger campaign to build a narrative about Ukrainian “provocations” – unwarranted actions that require a defensive and retaliatory response. Putin invoked this logic in his memorable <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/23/fact-checking-putins-speech-ukraine/">speech that delivered his justifications for an invasion</a>.</p>
<p>Yet even in that speech, which was laden with dubious historical claims, pent-up grievances and false accusations about the Ukrainian government, the recent upsurge in fighting in the Donbas region registered almost as an afterthought. This is in contrast to Russia’s invasion in the <a href="https://warontherocks.com/2018/08/the-august-war-ten-years-on-a-retrospective-on-the-russo-georgian-war/">2008 war with Georgia</a>, which the Kremlin justified in terms of protecting “its” citizens from Georgian attacks. Given the lack of the pretense of a plausible rationale, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that the Kremlin is unconcerned about how the world views its invasion.</p>
<h2>Capturing the (false) flag</h2>
<p>In the past few weeks, U.S. officials have warned <a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-business-europe-belarus-jens-stoltenberg-43c9151532de706a2edec5684dfcf07d">several</a> <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/13/ukraine-invasion-false-flag-00008470">times</a> that Russia planned a false flag attack. Such an operation, they alleged, would give Russia the pretext to invade Ukraine by provoking shock and outrage.</p>
<p>By exposing this plan, the Biden administration sought to undermine its emotional power and stop the Kremlin from manufacturing a casus belli, or justification for war.</p>
<p>But false flag attacks aren’t what they used to be. With satellite photos and live video on the ground <a href="https://theconversation.com/technology-is-revolutionizing-how-intelligence-is-gathered-and-analyzed-and-opening-a-window-onto-russian-military-activity-around-ukraine-176446">shared widely and instantly on the internet</a> – and with journalists and armchair sleuths joining intelligence professionals in analyzing the information – it’s difficult to get away with false flag attacks today. And with the prevalence of disinformation campaigns, manufacturing a justification for war doesn’t require the expense or risk of a false flag – let alone an actual attack.</p>
<h2>The long history of false flag attacks</h2>
<p>Both false flag attacks and allegations that states engage in them have a long history. The term originated to describe pirates’ wielding of friendly (and false) flags to lure merchant ships close enough to attack. It was later used as a label for any attack – real or simulated – that the instigators inflict against “friendly” forces to incriminate an adversary and create the basis for retaliation. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447119/original/file-20220217-23-mu8o6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a large open-frame tower in a field" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447119/original/file-20220217-23-mu8o6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447119/original/file-20220217-23-mu8o6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447119/original/file-20220217-23-mu8o6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447119/original/file-20220217-23-mu8o6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447119/original/file-20220217-23-mu8o6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1109&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447119/original/file-20220217-23-mu8o6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1109&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447119/original/file-20220217-23-mu8o6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1109&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Gleiwitz incident involved Nazi operatives staging an attack on a radio station near the Polish border in 1939 and blaming the attack on the Polish government as an excuse to invade Poland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Himmler#/media/File:Sender_gliwice.jpg">Grimmi59 rade/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the 20th century, there were several prominent episodes involving false flag operations. In 1939, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120314190818/http:/www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-two/6106566/World-War-IIs-first-victim.html">agents from Nazi Germany</a> broadcast anti-German messages from a German radio station near the Polish border. They also murdered several civilians whom they dressed in Polish military uniforms to create a pretext for Germany’s planned invasion of Poland. </p>
<p>That same year, the Soviet Union <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Frozen_Hell/yXsLNVaDfcoC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Mainila">detonated shells</a> in Soviet territory near the Finnish border and blamed Finland, which it then proceeded to invade. </p>
<p>The U.S. has also been implicated in similar plots. <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=92662&page=1">Operation Northwoods</a> was a proposal to kill Americans and blame the attack on Castro, thereby granting the military the pretext to invade Cuba. The Kennedy administration ultimately rejected the plan.</p>
<p>In addition to these actual plots, there have been numerous alleged false flag attacks involving the U.S. government. The sinking of the <a href="http://www.nhgallery.org/uss-maine/">USS Maine</a> in 1898 and the <a href="https://www.history.com/news/the-gulf-of-tonkin-incident-50-years-ago">Gulf of Tonkin incident</a> in 1964 – each of which was a critical part of a casus belli – have been claimed as possible false flag attacks, though the evidence supporting these allegations is weak.</p>
<h2>Global visibility, disinformation and cynicism</h2>
<p>More recent and even less fact-based is the “<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/9-11-and-the-rise-of-the-new-conspiracy-theorists-11599768458">9/11 Truth</a>” movement, which alleged that the Bush administration engineered the destruction of the twin towers to justify restrictions on civil liberties and lay the foundation for invading Iraq. <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/2/22/17036018/parkland-conspiracy-theories">Right-wing pundits and politicians</a> have promoted the conspiracy theory that Democrats have staged mass shootings, such as the one at a high school in Parkland, Florida, in 2018, in order to push for gun control laws. </p>
<p>If people believe that false flag operations happen, it is <a href="https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2022/what-is-a-false-flag/">not because they are common</a>. Instead, they gain plausibility from the <a href="https://www.transparency.org/en/news/low-political-integrity-throughout-the-european-union-gcb-eu-2021">widespread perception that politicians are unscrupulous</a> and take advantage of crises. </p>
<p>Furthermore, governments operate in relative secrecy and have recourse to tools of coercion such as intelligence, well-trained agents and weapons to implement their agenda. It is not a huge leap to imagine that leaders deliberately cause the high-impact events that they later exploit for political gain, notwithstanding the logistical complexities, large number of people who would have to be involved and moral qualms leaders might have about murdering their own citizens. </p>
<p>For example, it is not controversial to note that the Bush administration used the 9/11 attacks to build support for its <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2021/07/22/why-did-we-invade-iraq/">invasion of Iraq</a>. Yet this led some people to conclude that, since the Bush administration benefited politically from 9/11, it therefore must have caused the attacks, <a href="https://www.cfr.org/blog/seven-resources-debunking-911-conspiracy-theories">despite all evidence to the contrary</a>.</p>
<h2>The challenge of credibility</h2>
<p>The willingness to believe that leaders are capable of such atrocities reflects a broader trend of <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/dspd/2021/07/trust-public-institutions/">rising distrust</a> toward governments worldwide, which, incidentally, complicates matters for leaders who intend to carry out false flag attacks. If the impact of such attacks has historically come from their ability to rally citizens around their leader, false flag attacks staged today may not only fail to provoke outrage against the purported aggressor, but they can also backfire by casting suspicion on the leaders who stand to benefit. </p>
<p>Furthermore, investigators using open source intelligence, such as the <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/how-bellingcat-unmasked-putins-assassins">Bellingcat collective</a> of citizen internet sleuths, make it more difficult for governments to get away with egregious violations of laws and international norms.</p>
<p>Even as the Biden administration attempts to blunt Russia’s ability to seize the initiative, it too faces credibility challenges. Reporters were justifiably <a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-russia-ukraine-health-europe-national-security-5c4182d83dd8b7585ac49fdbb5f91c45">skeptical of State Department spokesman</a> Ned Price’s warning about Russia’s false flag plans, especially since he did not provide evidence for the claim. </p>
<p>Skeptics pointed to the August 2021 drone strike during the U.S. withdrawal from Kabul, which the military initially asserted was a “righteous strike” to kill a suicide bomber but that later turned out to be a mistaken attack on an innocent man and his family. It took <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/19/us/politics/afghanistan-drone-strike-video.html">overwhelming and undeniable evidence</a> from media investigations before the U.S. government admitted the mistake.</p>
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<p>Insofar as the Kremlin might expect to benefit from executing a false flag attack, it would be to manufacture a casus belli among Russian citizens rather than to persuade audiences abroad. Surveys have shown that the vast majority of Russians are <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/11/russia-may-be-about-invade-ukraine-russians-dont-want-it/">opposed to invading Ukraine</a>, yet they also harbor negative attitudes toward NATO. </p>
<p>The spectacle of a provocation aimed against Russia on state-run television might provide a jolt of support for an invasion, at least initially. At the same time, Russians are <a href="https://www.nti.org/analysis/articles/civil-society-russia-its-role-under-authoritarian-regime-part-ii-russian-society-today-life-opinions-nostalgia/">cynical about their own leaders</a> and might harbor the suspicion that a purported attack was manufactured for political gain.</p>
<h2>False flag alternatives</h2>
<p>In any event, Russia had other options to facilitate the invasion. At the start of its incursion into Crimea in 2014, the Kremlin used “<a href="http://cup.columbia.edu/book/russian-active-measures/9783838215297">active measures</a>,” including disinformation and deception, to prevent Ukrainian resistance and secure domestic approval. Russia and other post-Soviet states are also prone to claim a “<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Revealing_Schemes/ezkqEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=provocation">provocation</a>,” which frames any military action as a justified response rather than a first move. </p>
<p>By contrast, false flag operations are complex and perhaps overly theatrical in a way that invites unwanted scrutiny. Governments seeking to sway public opinion face far greater challenges today than they did in the 20th century. False flag attacks are risky, while leaders seeking to manufacture a casus belli can select from a range of subtler and less costly alternatives.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-are-false-flag-attacks-and-could-russia-make-one-work-in-the-information-age-177128">article</a> originally published on Feb. 17, 2022.</em></p>
<p>[<em><a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?nl=politics&source=inline-politics-important">Get The Conversation’s most important politics headlines, in our Politics Weekly newsletter</a>.</em>]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/177879/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Scott Radnitz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Attacking your own side and blaming your foe has a long history and a firm grip on the popular imagination. But the internet makes it difficult to pull off – and less desirable.Scott Radnitz, Associate Professor of International Studies, University of WashingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1771282022-02-17T21:12:33Z2022-02-17T21:12:33ZWhat are false flag attacks – and could Russia make one work in the information age?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447107/original/file-20220217-1111-q3f2em.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6000%2C3988&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Russian and Ukrainian governments both blamed forces aligned with the other for mortar fire in eastern Ukraine and for using the accusations as justification for increased aggression.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/UkraineTensions/12cfaa5995ae41b492b6d37f87f25be1/photo">AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>An updated version of this article was published on Feb. 24, 2022. <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-are-false-flag-attacks-and-did-russia-stage-any-to-claim-justification-for-invading-ukraine-177879">Read it here</a>.</em></p>
<p>In the past few weeks, U.S. officials have warned <a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-business-europe-belarus-jens-stoltenberg-43c9151532de706a2edec5684dfcf07d">several</a> <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/13/ukraine-invasion-false-flag-00008470">times</a> that Russia plans to create the appearance of an attack on its own forces and broadcast those images to the world. Such a “false flag” operation, they alleged, would give Russia the pretext to invade Ukraine by provoking shock and outrage. </p>
<p>By exposing this plan, the Biden administration sought to undermine its emotional power and stop the Kremlin from manufacturing a casus belli, or justification for war.</p>
<p>But false flag attacks aren’t what they used to be. With satellite photos and live video on the ground <a href="https://theconversation.com/technology-is-revolutionizing-how-intelligence-is-gathered-and-analyzed-and-opening-a-window-onto-russian-military-activity-around-ukraine-176446">shared widely and instantly on the internet</a> – and with journalists and armchair sleuths joining intelligence professionals in analyzing the information – it’s difficult to get away with false flag attacks today. And with the prevalence of disinformation campaigns, manufacturing a justification for war doesn’t require the expense or risk of a false flag – let alone an actual attack.</p>
<h2>The long history of false flag attacks</h2>
<p>Both false flag attacks and allegations that states engage in them have a long history. The term originated to describe pirates’ wielding of friendly (and false) flags to lure merchant ships close enough to attack. It was later used as a label for any attack – real or simulated – that the instigators inflict against “friendly” forces to incriminate an adversary and create the basis for retaliation. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447119/original/file-20220217-23-mu8o6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a large open-frame tower in a field" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447119/original/file-20220217-23-mu8o6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447119/original/file-20220217-23-mu8o6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447119/original/file-20220217-23-mu8o6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447119/original/file-20220217-23-mu8o6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447119/original/file-20220217-23-mu8o6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1109&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447119/original/file-20220217-23-mu8o6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1109&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447119/original/file-20220217-23-mu8o6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1109&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Gleiwitz incident involved Nazi operatives staging an attack on a radio station near the Polish border in 1939 and blaming the attack on the Polish government as an excuse to invade Poland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Himmler#/media/File:Sender_gliwice.jpg">Grimmi59 rade/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the 20th century, there were several prominent episodes involving false flag operations. In 1939, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120314190818/http:/www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-two/6106566/World-War-IIs-first-victim.html">agents from Nazi Germany</a> broadcast anti-German messages from a German radio station near the Polish border. They also murdered several civilians whom they dressed in Polish military uniforms to create a pretext for Germany’s planned invasion of Poland. </p>
<p>That same year, the Soviet Union <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Frozen_Hell/yXsLNVaDfcoC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Mainila">detonated shells</a> in Soviet territory near the Finnish border and blamed Finland, which it then proceeded to invade. </p>
<p>The U.S. has also been implicated in similar plots. <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=92662&page=1">Operation Northwoods</a> was a proposal to kill Americans and blame the attack on Castro, thereby granting the military the pretext to invade Cuba. The Kennedy administration ultimately rejected the plan.</p>
<p>In addition to these actual plots, there have been numerous alleged false flag attacks involving the U.S. government. The sinking of the <a href="http://www.nhgallery.org/uss-maine/">USS Maine</a> in 1898 and the <a href="https://www.history.com/news/the-gulf-of-tonkin-incident-50-years-ago">Gulf of Tonkin incident</a> in 1964 – each of which was a critical part of a casus belli – have been claimed as possible false flag attacks, though the evidence supporting these allegations is weak.</p>
<h2>Global visibility, disinformation and cynicism</h2>
<p>More recent and even less fact-based is the “<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/9-11-and-the-rise-of-the-new-conspiracy-theorists-11599768458">9/11 Truth</a>” movement, which alleged that the Bush administration engineered the destruction of the twin towers to justify restrictions on civil liberties and lay the foundation for invading Iraq. <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/2/22/17036018/parkland-conspiracy-theories">Right-wing pundits and politicians</a> have promoted the conspiracy theory that Democrats have staged mass shootings, such as the one at a high school in Parkland, Florida, in 2018, in order to push for gun control laws. </p>
<p>If people believe that false flag operations happen, it is <a href="https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2022/what-is-a-false-flag/">not because they are common</a>. Instead, they gain plausibility from the <a href="https://www.transparency.org/en/news/low-political-integrity-throughout-the-european-union-gcb-eu-2021">widespread perception that politicians are unscrupulous</a> and take advantage of crises. </p>
<p>Furthermore, governments operate in relative secrecy and have recourse to tools of coercion such as intelligence, well-trained agents and weapons to implement their agenda. It is not a huge leap to imagine that leaders deliberately cause the high-impact events that they later exploit for political gain, notwithstanding the logistical complexities, large number of people who would have to be involved and moral qualms leaders might have about murdering their own citizens. </p>
<p>For example, it is not controversial to note that the Bush administration used the 9/11 attacks to build support for its <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2021/07/22/why-did-we-invade-iraq/">invasion of Iraq</a>. Yet this led some people to conclude that, since the Bush administration benefited politically from 9/11, it therefore must have caused the attacks, <a href="https://www.cfr.org/blog/seven-resources-debunking-911-conspiracy-theories">despite all evidence to the contrary</a>.</p>
<h2>The challenge of credibility</h2>
<p>The willingness to believe that leaders are capable of such atrocities reflects a broader trend of <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/dspd/2021/07/trust-public-institutions/">rising distrust</a> toward governments worldwide, which, incidentally, complicates matters for leaders who intend to carry out false flag attacks. If the impact of such attacks has historically come from their ability to rally citizens around their leader, false flag attacks staged today may not only fail to provoke outrage against the purported aggressor, but they can also backfire by casting suspicion on the leaders who stand to benefit. </p>
<p>Furthermore, investigators using open source intelligence, such as the <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/how-bellingcat-unmasked-putins-assassins">Bellingcat collective</a> of citizen internet sleuths, make it more difficult for governments to get away with egregious violations of laws and international norms.</p>
<p>Even as the Biden administration attempts to blunt Russia’s ability to seize the initiative, it too faces credibility challenges. Reporters were justifiably <a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-russia-ukraine-health-europe-national-security-5c4182d83dd8b7585ac49fdbb5f91c45">skeptical of State Department spokesman</a> Ned Price’s warning about Russia’s false flag plans, especially since he did not provide evidence for the claim. </p>
<p>Skeptics pointed to the August 2021 drone strike during the U.S. withdrawal from Kabul, which the military initially asserted was a “righteous strike” to kill a suicide bomber but that later turned out to be a mistaken attack on an innocent man and his family. It took <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/19/us/politics/afghanistan-drone-strike-video.html">overwhelming and undeniable evidence</a> from media investigations before the U.S. government admitted the mistake.</p>
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<p>Insofar as the Kremlin might expect to benefit from executing a false flag attack, it would be to manufacture a casus belli among Russian citizens rather than to persuade audiences abroad. Surveys have shown that the vast majority of Russians are <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/11/russia-may-be-about-invade-ukraine-russians-dont-want-it/">opposed to invading Ukraine</a>, yet they also harbor negative attitudes toward NATO. </p>
<p>The spectacle of a provocation aimed against Russia on state-run television might provide a jolt of support for an invasion, at least initially. At the same time, Russians are <a href="https://www.nti.org/analysis/articles/civil-society-russia-its-role-under-authoritarian-regime-part-ii-russian-society-today-life-opinions-nostalgia/">cynical about their own leaders</a> and might harbor the suspicion that a purported attack was manufactured for political gain.</p>
<h2>False flag alternatives</h2>
<p>In any event, Russia has other options to facilitate an invasion. At the start of its incursion into Crimea in 2014, the Kremlin used “<a href="http://cup.columbia.edu/book/russian-active-measures/9783838215297">active measures</a>,” including disinformation and deception, to prevent Ukrainian resistance and secure domestic approval. Russia and other post-Soviet states are also prone to claim a “<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Revealing_Schemes/ezkqEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=provocation">provocation</a>,” which frames any military action as a justified response rather than a first move. </p>
<p>By contrast, false flag operations are complex and perhaps overly theatrical in a way that invites unwanted scrutiny. Governments seeking to sway public opinion face far greater challenges today than they did in the 20th century. False flag attacks are risky, while leaders seeking to manufacture a casus belli can select from a range of subtler and less costly alternatives.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/177128/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Scott Radnitz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Attacking your own side and blaming your foe has a long history and a firm grip on the popular imagination. But the internet makes it difficult to pull off – and less desirable.Scott Radnitz, Associate Professor of International Studies, University of WashingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1766632022-02-16T20:15:34Z2022-02-16T20:15:34ZAll American presidents have lied – the question is why and when<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446325/original/file-20220214-138710-1elarsz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C12%2C2874%2C1942&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Critics of President Joe Biden have accused him of lying. Most American presidents have been accused of deception.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/president-joe-biden-speaks-during-an-event-at-germanna-news-photo/1369802125?adppopup=true">Win McNamee/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Those who dislike a president tend to emphasize the frequency or skill with which he lies. </p>
<p>During the Trump administration, for instance, The Washington Post kept a running database of the president’s lies and deceptions – with the final tally running to over <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/24/trumps-false-or-misleading-claims-total-30573-over-four-years/">30,000 falsehoods</a>. President Joe Biden’s critics have insisted that he, too, is a <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/11/22/bidens-obsessive-lies-small-and-large-are-big-trouble-for-america/">liar</a> – and that the media is complicit in ignoring his supposed frequent <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/572189-why-isnt-it-a-lie-when-joe-biden-says-something-false-or-dishonest">deception of the American people</a>. </p>
<p>The frequency of these criticisms would seem to indicate that most people do not want a president who lies. And yet a recent <a href="https://progressive.org/dispatches/lies-more-lies-presidential-history-lueders-200810/">study of presidential deception</a> found that all American presidents – from Washington to Trump – have told lies, and knowingly so, in their public statements. The most effective of presidents have sometimes been effective precisely because they were skilled at <a href="https://global.oup.com/ushe/product/paradoxes-of-the-american-presidency-9780190648503?cc=us&lang=en&">manipulation and deception</a>.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://phil.washington.edu/people/michael-blake">political philosopher</a> with a focus on how people try to reason together through political disagreement, I argue that what matters most is not whether a president lies, but when and why he does so. </p>
<p>Presidents who lie to save their own public image or career are unlikely to be forgiven. However, those who appear to lie in the service of the public are often celebrated.</p>
<h2>The morality of deception</h2>
<p>Why, though, are lies thought so wrongful in the first instance?</p>
<p>Philosopher Immanuel Kant, in the 18th century, provided one powerful account of <a href="https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199577415.001.0001/acprof-9780199577415-chapter-4">the wrongness of lying</a>. For Kant, lying was wrong in much the same way that threats and coercion are wrong. All of these override the autonomous will of another person, and treat that person as a mere tool. When a gunman uses threats to coerce a person to do a particular act, he disrespects that person’s rational agency. Lies are similarly disrespectful to rational agency: One’s decision has been manipulated, so that the act is no longer one’s own.</p>
<p>Kant regarded any lie as immoral – even one told to <a href="https://experts.illinois.edu/en/publications/kant-and-lying-to-the-murderer-at-the-door-one-more-time-kants-le">a murderer at the door</a>. </p>
<p>Modern-day philosophers have often endorsed versions of Kant’s account while seeking exceptions from its rigidness. One common theme is the necessity of the deception for achieving an important political goal. For example, a political leader who gives honest answers about a forthcoming military operation would likely imperil that operation – and most citizens of the state engaging in that military action would not want that. The key is that people might accept such deception, after the fact, because of what that deception made possible. </p>
<p>During World War II, the British government sought to deceive the Nazi command about its plans for invasion – which entailed <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/06/06/d-day-would-be-nearly-impossible-pull-off-today-heres-why/">lying even to British allies</a>. The moral imperative of defeating Nazi Germany is generally thought to be important enough to justify this sort of deception.</p>
<p>This example also illustrates another theme: Deception might be permitted when it is in the context of an adversarial relationship in which truth-telling should not be expected. Lying to one’s own citizens may or may not be justifiable – but there seems to be very little wrong about lying to one’s <em>enemies</em> during wartime. </p>
<h2>Honorable lies?</h2>
<p>These ideas might be used in defense of some presidential lies. </p>
<p>During the 1930s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was convinced that Hitler’s expansionism in Europe was a threat to the liberal democratic project itself, but he faced an electorate without any will to intervene in a European war. Roosevelt chose to insist publicly that he was opposed to any intervention – while doing everything he could to prepare for war and to covertly help the <a href="https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/2017/01/04/how-franklin-d-roosevelt-prepared-us-for-wwii/">British cause</a>. </p>
<p>As early as 1948, historian <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24911690">Thomas Bailey</a> noted that Roosevelt had made a calculated choice to both prepare for war and insist he was doing no such thing. To be open about his view of Hitler would have likely led to <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=CVqTXJjmtmUC&pg=PA298&lpg=PA298&dq=roosevelt+lying&source=bl&ots=0frUEvK02d&sig=ACfU3U3djJZzxplhbGcQwVXwPOAqWJaa2w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiQ_cKC_evrAhUBip4KHUTjDqY4ChDoATAGegQICBAB#v=onepage&q=the%20man%20in%20the%20street&f=false">his defeat in the 1940 election</a>. </p>
<p>Before Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln made similar calculations. Lincoln’s lies regarding his negotiations with the Confederacy – described by <a href="https://www.megmott.com">Meg Mott</a>, a professor of political theory, as being “<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2013/11/24/politics/presidents-lie/index.html">devious</a>” – may have been instrumental in preserving the United States as a single country.</p>
<p>Lincoln was willing to open peace negotiations with the Confederacy, knowing that much of his own party thought that only unconditional surrender by the South would settle the question of slavery. At one point, Lincoln wrote a note to his own party asserting – falsely – that there were “<a href="https://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/2629860.0021.104/--hampton-roads-peace-conference-a-final-test-of-lincolns?rgn=main;view=fulltext">no peace commissioners</a>” being sent to a conference with the Confederacy. </p>
<p>A member of the Congress later noted that, in the absence of that note, the 13th Amendment – which ended the practice of chattel slavery – <a href="https://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/2629860.0021.104/--hampton-roads-peace-conference-a-final-test-of-lincolns?rgn=main;view=fulltext">would not have been passed</a>.</p>
<h2>Good lies and bad lies</h2>
<p>The problem, of course, is that a great many presidential lies cannot be so easily linked to important purposes. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446331/original/file-20220214-15-66fael.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man in a dark suit speaks into microphones, with flags in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446331/original/file-20220214-15-66fael.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446331/original/file-20220214-15-66fael.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446331/original/file-20220214-15-66fael.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446331/original/file-20220214-15-66fael.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446331/original/file-20220214-15-66fael.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446331/original/file-20220214-15-66fael.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446331/original/file-20220214-15-66fael.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Former U.S. President Bill Clinton addresses the nation to apologize for misleading the country about his relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/president-bill-clinton-addresses-the-nation-from-the-rose-news-photo/462731481?adppopup=true">William Philpott/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>President Bill Clinton’s lies about his sexual activities were either simply self-serving or told to <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=Fe88rwSW8ywC&pg=PT507&lpg=PT507&dq=bill+clinton+%22the+lie+saved+me%22&source=bl&ots=AJY7EQZHoq&sig=ACfU3U2uGl7_XXWvjxHXE5jYNH0XyzOZyA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjFsPGE0enrAhWTvJ4KHY_WB5MQ6AEwC3oECAIQAQ#v=onepage&q=bill%20clinton%20%22the%20lie%20saved%20me%22&f=false">preserve his presidency</a>. </p>
<p>Similarly, President Richard Nixon’s insistence that he knew nothing about <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/nixon-insists-that-he-is-not-a-crook">the Watergate break-in</a> was most likely a lie. John Dean, Nixon’s legal counsel, confirmed years later that the president <a href="https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2014/08/07/john-dean-uncovers-what-nixon-knew-about-watergate">knew about, and approved of</a>, the plan to rob the Democratic National Committee headquarters. This scandal eventually ended Nixon’s presidency. </p>
<p>In both cases, these presidents faced a significant threat to their presidencies – and chose deception to save not the nation, but their own power. </p>
<h2>President Biden, President Trump and truth</h2>
<p>It is likely that President Trump lied <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/06/podcast-glenn-kessler-david-corn-lies-washington-post-fact-checker/">more than most presidents</a>. What is striking about his lies, however, is that they have tended to be told to defend his own <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/11/04/trump-male-ego-merkel-schroeder/">self-image or political viability</a> rather than in service of some central political good.</p>
<p>Indeed, some of President Trump’s more implausible lies seemed best understood as tests of loyalty; those in his circle who repeated his most obvious lies <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/1/26/14386068/why-does-trump-lie">demonstrated their loyalty to President Trump in doing so</a>. Most recently, he has attacked as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/24/donald-trump-big-lie-american-democracy">disloyal</a> those members of the Republican Party who have not repeated his false claims about electoral fraud.</p>
<p>Recent studies indicate that President Biden, thus far, has not shown himself equal to President Trump <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidmarkowitz/2021/04/30/who-lied-more-during-their-first-100-days-biden-trump-or-obama/?sh=56acaa81a89d">in his deceptiveness</a>. He has, however, made deceptive and misleading claims on a number of topics, ranging from the costs of particular policies to his <a href="https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/list/?page=1&category=&ruling=false&speaker=joe-biden">own history and early life</a>. These lies seem somewhat unlike those told by Lincoln and by Roosevelt; they seem generally told in the interests of making a rhetorical point more powerful rather than as necessary means to an otherwise unobtainable political goal. They seem, in that respect, less morally justifiable than these earlier falsehoods.</p>
<p>A justification for these lies might be found with reference to practices which – like warfare or politics – necessarily involve conflict and gamesmanship. No one would expect honesty from the enemy side during warfare, and perhaps one should not from opponents in politics either. Some political philosophers have thought that, when politics becomes <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691057392/ethics-for-adversaries">an adversarial game</a>, politicians might be forgiven when they seek to deceive the other party. President Biden might rely upon this idea, and could note that the Republican Party is <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/01/10/bipartisanship-is-out-biden-its-about-time/">less open to bipartisan negotiation than at any time in its history</a>. </p>
<p>Even this last justification, however, may not be enough. Lying to one’s political opponents might be permitted in an adversarial context. The lies told by presidents are often addressed to constituents, and such deception seems harder to justify. </p>
<p>[<em>Over 140,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletters to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-140ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>And finally, even the most important of lies must be believed for it to be justifiable; a lie that is immediately recognized as such is unlikely to achieve the goal justifying that lie. This is an increasingly difficult burden. Modern presidents find it more <a href="https://www.issuelab.org/resources/15318/15318.pdf">challenging to lie</a> without having their lies recognized as untrue than presidents serving before the advent of social media and dedicated <a href="https://www.factcheck.org">fact-checking</a>. </p>
<p>If presidents must sometimes lie to defend important political values, then, it seems as though the good president must be both able to lie and able to lie well. </p>
<p><em>This is updated version of an article <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-washington-to-trump-all-presidents-have-told-lies-but-only-some-have-told-them-for-the-right-reasons-145995">first published on September 17, 2020</a></em>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176663/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Blake receives funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities.</span></em></p>A political philosopher argues that while all American presidents may lie, those who appear to lie for the public good are often celebrated.Michael Blake, Professor of Philosophy, Public Policy and Governance, University of WashingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1706092021-11-08T19:10:31Z2021-11-08T19:10:31ZAre people lying more since the rise of social media and smartphones?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430554/original/file-20211105-16752-1hf2une.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C2%2C1595%2C1420&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some forms of technology seem to facilitate lying more than others.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/lies-concept-royalty-free-image/465104450?adppopup=true">solitude72/iStock via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Technology has given people more ways to connect, but has it also given them more opportunities to lie?</p>
<p>You might text your friend a white lie to <a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1518701.1518782">get out of going to dinner</a>, exaggerate your height on a dating profile <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2011.01619.x">to appear more attractive</a> or invent an excuse to your boss over email to <a href="https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/bitstream/handle/1808/6098/KJSV11N1A6.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y">save face</a>. </p>
<p>Social psychologists and communication scholars have long wondered not just who lies the most, but where people tend to lie the most – that is, in person or through some other communication medium. </p>
<p>A seminal <a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/985692.985709">2004 study</a> was among the first to investigate the connection between deception rates and technology. Since then, the ways we communicate have shifted – fewer phone calls and more social media messaging, for example – and I wanted to see how well earlier results held up. </p>
<h2>The link between deception and technology</h2>
<p>Back in 2004, communication researcher <a href="https://comm.stanford.edu/faculty-hancock/">Jeff Hancock</a> and his colleagues had 28 students report the number of social interactions they had via face-to-face communication, the phone, instant messaging and email over seven days. Students also reported the number of times they lied in each social interaction.</p>
<p>The results suggested people told the most lies per social interaction on the phone. The fewest were told via email. </p>
<p>The findings aligned with a framework Hancock called the “<a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/985692.985709">feature-based model</a>.” According to this model, specific aspects of a technology – whether people can communicate back and forth seamlessly, whether the messages are fleeting and whether communicators are distant – predict where people tend to lie the most.</p>
<p>In Hancock’s study, the most lies per social interaction occurred via the technology with all of these features: the phone. The fewest occurred on email, where people couldn’t communicate synchronously and the messages were recorded.</p>
<h2>The Hancock Study, revisited</h2>
<p>When Hancock conducted his study, <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/facebook-launches-mark-zuckerberg">only students at a few select universities</a> could create a Facebook account. The iPhone was in its early stages of development, a highly confidential project nicknamed “<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/13/15782200/one-device-secret-history-iphone-brian-merchant-book-excerpt">Project Purple</a>.” </p>
<p>What would his results look like nearly 20 years later?</p>
<p><a href="https://academic.oup.com/hcr/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/hcr/hqab019/6423102">In a new study</a>, I recruited a larger group of participants and studied interactions from more forms of technology. A total of 250 people recorded their social interactions and number of interactions with a lie over seven days, across face-to-face communication, social media, the phone, texting, video chat and email.</p>
<p>As in Hancock’s study, people told the most lies per social interaction over media that were synchronous and recordless and when communicators were distant: over the phone or on video chat. They told the fewest lies per social interaction via email. Interestingly, though, the differences across the forms of communication were small. Differences among participants – how much people varied in their lying tendencies – were more predictive of deception rates than differences among media.</p>
<p><iframe id="zcjE1" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/zcjE1/4/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Despite changes in the way people communicate over the past two decades – along with ways the COVID-19 pandemic changed <a href="https://time.com/5835818/socializing-coronavirus-social-distancing/">how people socialize</a> – people seem to lie systematically and in alignment with the feature-based model.</p>
<p>There are several possible explanations for these results, though more work is needed to understand exactly why different media lead to different lying rates. It’s possible that certain media are better <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-96334-1_31">facilitators of deception</a> than others. Some media – the phone, video chat – might make deception feel easier or less costly to a social relationship if caught. </p>
<p>Deception rates might also differ across technology because people use some forms of technology for certain social relationships. For example, people might only email their professional colleagues, while video chat might be a better fit for more personal relationships.</p>
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<h2>Technology misunderstood</h2>
<p>To me, there are two key takeaways.</p>
<p>First, there are, overall, small differences in lying rates across media. An individual’s tendency to lie matters more than whether someone is emailing or talking on the phone.</p>
<p>Second, there’s a low rate of lying across the board. Most people are honest – a premise consistent with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X14535916">truth-default theory</a>, which suggests most people report being honest most of the time and there are only a few <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X14528804">prolific liars</a> in a population.</p>
<p>Since 2004, social media have become a primary place for <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2021/04/07/social-media-use-in-2021/">interacting with other people</a>. Yet a common misperception persists that communicating online or via technology, as opposed to in person, leads to social interactions that are <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/313732/reclaiming-conversation-by-sherry-turkle/">lower in quantity and quality</a>.</p>
<p>People often believe that just because we use technology to interact, honesty is harder to come by and users aren’t well served. </p>
<p>Not only is this perception misguided, but it is also unsupported by empirical evidence. The <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0747563216304800">belief that lying is rampant</a> in the digital age just doesn’t match the data.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/170609/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Markowitz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Communication scholars have long wondered not just who lies the most, but also whether people tend to lie more online, in person or over the phone.David Markowitz, Assistant Professor of Social Media Data Analytics, University of OregonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1653622021-08-03T12:34:29Z2021-08-03T12:34:29ZWhat are dark patterns? An online media expert explains<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414215/original/file-20210802-14-i00dop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=46%2C0%2C5165%2C3477&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It's not you; many e-commerce websites are difficult to use by design.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/confused-woman-having-problem-with-computer-broken-royalty-free-image/845527006">fizkes/iStock via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Dark patterns are design elements that deliberately obscure, mislead, coerce and/or deceive website visitors into making unintended and possibly harmful choices.</p>
<p>Dark patterns can be found <a href="https://darkpatternstipline.org/">in many kinds of sites</a> and are used <a href="https://themarkup.org/2021/06/03/dark-patterns-that-mislead-consumers-are-all-over-the-internet">by several kinds of organizations</a>. They take the form of deceptively labeled buttons, choices that are difficult to undo and graphical elements like color and shading that direct users’ attention to or away from certain options.</p>
<p>Dark patterns in subscriptions are a common example of these kinds of design choices, given the ubiquity of online subscriptions and free trials for all kinds of products and services. This kind of dark pattern might make it difficult for a user to unsubscribe, or it might automatically convert a free trial into a paid subscription.</p>
<p>To demonstrate how common these kinds of design practices are, and to illustrate the various harms they can cause, designer and public interest technologist <a href="https://www.stephanienguyen.co/about">Stephanie Nguyen</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=xb9_bTUAAAAJ&hl=en">I</a> launched the zine <a href="https://pacscenter.stanford.edu/news/i-obscura-a-dark-pattern-zine-launched-from-stanford-and-ucla/">I, Obscura</a>. The zine publishes case studies of different dark patterns and what can and should be done to protect users from these practices. I, Obscura was launched with help from student authors Ryan Tan, Kaylee Doty and Kally Zheng, and in collaboration with the <a href="https://pacscenter.stanford.edu/research/digital-civil-society-lab/">Stanford University Digital Civil Society Lab</a> and the <a href="https://www.c2i2.ucla.edu/">UCLA Center for Critical Internet Inquiry</a>.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Examples of dark patterns on well-known websites.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why dark patterns matter</h2>
<p>The inability to unsubscribe from a service results in a specific monetary harm: It makes people spend money they didn’t intend to. But dark patterns can cause other kinds of harms, as well. </p>
<p>These can take the form of emotional manipulation, like when a site places a countdown clock on an offer to accelerate a customer’s decision-making, even though time has no bearing on the sale or the use of the product or service. Or the harm could be the loss of privacy, as when an app forces users to turn off data collection in two different settings instead of making privacy settings easy to find.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.accessnow.org/eu-digital-services-act/">power imbalance</a> exists between users and organizations, which makes it nearly impossible for individuals to always protect themselves from deceptive design practices. We created I, Obscura to help educate web users about the possibilities. </p>
<p>Consumer protection is important, as well. The <a href="https://ftc.gov">Federal Trade Commission</a> and state attorneys general have enforced consumer protection regulations against organizations that use deceptive design practices, especially those with apps that <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/09/04/abcmouse-10-million-ftc-settlement/">target children</a>. It is important for policymakers to prohibit the use of dark patterns and to require organizations to make interactions as transparent and simple as possible.</p>
<p><em>The Conversation U.S. publishes short, accessible explanations of newsworthy subjects by academics in their areas of expertise.</em></p>
<p>[<em>Over 100,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=100Ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165362/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jasmine McNealy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Deceptively labeled buttons, choices that are hard to undo, web designs that hide options – these dark patterns are how some websites trick people into giving up their money and information.Jasmine McNealy, Associate Professor, University of FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1596222021-04-27T12:11:25Z2021-04-27T12:11:25ZFTC warns the AI industry: Don’t discriminate, or else<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396892/original/file-20210423-19-1kbxh05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C8%2C5982%2C3979&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The FTC put companies that sell AI systems on notice: Cross the line with biased products and the law is coming for you.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/arrested-robot-with-handcuffs-royalty-free-illustration/636870131?adppopup=true">Maciej Frolow/Stone via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The U.S. Federal Trade Commission just fired a shot across the bow of the artificial intelligence industry. On April 19, 2021, a staff attorney at the agency, which serves as the nation’s leading consumer protection authority, wrote a blog post about biased AI algorithms that included a blunt warning: “Keep in mind that if you don’t hold yourself accountable, the FTC may do it for you.” </p>
<p>The post, titled “<a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs/business-blog/2021/04/aiming-truth-fairness-equity-your-companys-use-ai">Aiming for truth, fairness, and equity in your company’s use of AI</a>,” was notable for its tough and specific rhetoric about discriminatory AI. The author observed that the commission’s authority to prohibit unfair and deceptive practices “would include the sale or use of – for example – racially biased algorithms” and that industry exaggerations regarding the capability of AI to make fair or unbiased hiring decisions could result in “deception, discrimination – and an FTC law enforcement action.”</p>
<p>Bias seems to pervade the AI industry. Companies large and small are selling <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/2/18/21121286/algorithms-bias-discrimination-facial-recognition-transparency">demonstrably biased systems</a>, and their customers are in turn applying them in ways that disproportionately affect the vulnerable and marginalized. Examples of areas where they are being abused include <a href="https://towardsdatascience.com/real-life-examples-of-discriminating-artificial-intelligence-cae395a90070">health care, criminal justice and hiring</a>.</p>
<p>Whatever they say or do, companies seem <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05469-3">unable or unwilling to rid their data sets and models of the racial, gender and other biases</a> that suffuse society. Industry efforts to address fairness and equity have come under fire as inadequate or poorly supported by leadership, sometimes <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-21/google-ethical-ai-group-s-turmoil-began-long-before-public-unraveling">collapsing entirely</a>.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=5PcO_84AAAAJ&hl=en">researcher who studies law and technology</a> and a longtime observer of the FTC, I took particular note of the not-so-veiled threat of agency action. Agencies routinely use formal and informal policy statements to put regulated entities on notice that they are paying attention to a particular industry or issue. But such a direct threat of agency action – get your act together, or else – is relatively rare for the commission.</p>
<h2>What the FTC can do – but hasn’t done</h2>
<p>The FTC’s approach on discriminatory AI stands in stark contrast to, for instance, the early days of internet privacy. In the 1990s, the agency embraced a more <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/1999/07/self-regulation-and-privacy-online-ftc-report-congress">hands-off, self-regulatory paradigm</a>, becoming more assertive only after years of privacy and security lapses.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397160/original/file-20210426-17-3ar78c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A seated woman gestures with her left hand as she speaks into a microphone" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397160/original/file-20210426-17-3ar78c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397160/original/file-20210426-17-3ar78c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397160/original/file-20210426-17-3ar78c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397160/original/file-20210426-17-3ar78c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397160/original/file-20210426-17-3ar78c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397160/original/file-20210426-17-3ar78c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397160/original/file-20210426-17-3ar78c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tech industry critic Lina Khan’s nomination to be a commissioner on the FTC is further evidence of the Biden administration’s intention to use the agency to regulate the industry.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/SenateFTC/6683f1a88cee46a983b9d136a11cb0d3/photo?Query=Federal%20Trade%20Commission&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=434&currentItemNo=10">Graeme Jennings/Pool via AP</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>How much should industry or the public read into a blog post by one government attorney? In my experience, FTC staff generally don’t go rogue. If anything, that a staff attorney apparently felt empowered to use such strong rhetoric on behalf of the commission confirms a broader basis of support within the agency for policing AI.</p>
<p>Can a federal agency, or anyone, define what makes AI fair or equitable? Not easily. But that’s not the <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/about-ftc">FTC’s charge</a>. The agency only has to determine whether the AI industry’s business practices are unfair or deceptive – a standard the agency has <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/public-statements/2003/05/ftcs-use-unfairness-authority-its-rise-fall-and-resurrection">almost a century of experience enforcing</a> – or otherwise in violation of laws that Congress has asked the agency to enforce.</p>
<h2>Shifting winds on regulating AI</h2>
<p>There are reasons to be skeptical of a sea change. The <a href="https://news.bloombergtax.com/privacy-and-data-security/ftcs-demand-for-tech-company-data-shows-underutilized-power">FTC is chronically understaffed</a>, especially with respect to technologists. The Supreme Court recently <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/19-508_l6gn.pdf">dealt the agency a setback</a> by requiring additional hurdles before the FTC can seek monetary restitution from violators of the FTC Act. </p>
<p>But the winds are also in the commission’s sails. Public <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/11/16/public-attitudes-toward-computer-algorithms/">concern over AI</a> is growing. Current and incoming commissioners – there are five, with three Democratic appointees – have been <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/ftc-nominee-khan-signals-support-for-aggressive-approach-on-big-tech-11619029550">vocally skeptical</a> of the technology industry, as is <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/09/biden-loads-administration-with-big-techs-most-prominent-critics.html">President Biden</a>. The same week as this Supreme Court decision, the commissioners found themselves <a href="https://www.commerce.senate.gov/2021/4/strengthening-the-federal-trade-commission-s-authority-to-protect-consumers">before the U.S. Senate</a> answering the Commerce Committee’s questions about how the agency could do more for American consumers.</p>
<p>I don’t expect the AI industry to change overnight in response to a blog post. But I would be equally surprised if this blog post were the agency’s last word on discriminatory AI.</p>
<p>[<em>Understand key political developments, each week.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/politics-weekly-74/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=politics-understand">Subscribe to The Conversation’s election newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159622/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ryan Calo co-founded research organizations that receive funding from Microsoft, the MacArthur Foundation, the Knight Foundation, the Omidyar Network, and other sources. He is affiliated with various non-profit organizations, including R-Street, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Future of Privacy Forum, and AI Now.</span></em></p>The Federal Trade Commission is rattling its saber at the technology industry over growing public concern about biased AI algorithms. Can the agency back up its threats?Ryan Calo, Professor of Law, University of WashingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1531932021-01-14T20:07:00Z2021-01-14T20:07:00ZThe far-right rioters at the Capitol were not antifa – but violent groups often blame rivals for unpopular attacks<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378642/original/file-20210113-21-n7uhzp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5482%2C3643&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Protesters who claimed to be members of the far-right Proud Boys gather with other Trump supporters outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/protester-who-claim-to-be-a-members-of-the-proud-boys-news-photo/1230457937?adppopup=true">Alex Edelman/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Some Republican congressional leaders, including U.S. Reps. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/01/07/antifa-capitol-gaetz-trump-riot/">Matt Gaetz, Mo Brooks and Paul Gosar</a>, along with <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2021/01/07/texas-ken-paxton-trump-supporters/">Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton</a>, joined <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tommybeer/2021/01/12/trump-still-falsely-blaming-antifa-but-allies-now-pushing-back-report-says/?sh=195d9e308ad7">President Trump</a> in trying to pin the violent siege of the U.S. Capitol building on <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-or-who-is-antifa-140147">antifa, a loose movement</a> of left-wing, anti-racist and anti-fascist activists. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/08/fbi-says-no-indication-that-antifa-took-part-in-us-capitol-riot.html">FBI negated the baseless claims</a>, and people have recognized the conspiracy theory as a <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/2021/01/12/how-antifa-conspiracy-theory-traveled-fringe-floor-congress/6620908002/">false flag</a> – an act designed to disguise the actual source or responsible party and implicate another.</p>
<p>In contrast, members of extreme right-wing groups like <a href="https://theconversation.com/far-right-boogaloo-movement-is-using-hawaiian-shirts-to-hide-its-intentions-142633">the boogaloo movement</a> and the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/who-are-proud-boys-11601485755">Proud Boys</a> did in fact <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/70497/far-right-infiltrators-and-agitators-in-george-floyd-protests-indicators-of-white-supremacists/">infiltrate the George Floyd protests</a> this summer, trying to spark violence between Black Lives Matter protesters and police. </p>
<p>And at the Capitol, it appears <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/epdmva/a-proud-boy-in-disguise-helped-lead-the-insurrection-at-the-capitol">Proud Boys members hid their affiliation</a> to better blend in with the crowd.</p>
<p>As an <a href="https://news.gsu.edu/expert/mia-bloom/">expert on terrorist tactics and propaganda</a>, I am well acquainted with the idea that far-right militants sometimes try to hide their own identities.</p>
<p>Terrorist deception is an age-old tactic. Deception helps <a href="https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/events/how-terrorist-groups-learn-innovation-and-adaptation-political-violence/">terrorist groups innovate</a> by allowing them to learn, master and <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/capsule-review/2005-09-01/dying-win-strategic-logic-suicide-terrorism-dying-kill-allure">experiment with new tactics</a> while protecting their identities and reputation. </p>
<h2>The guise of mimicry</h2>
<p>The most obvious form of deception – mimicry – is emulating the specific tactics and strategies of other groups.</p>
<p>The history of suicide terrorism, for example, is replete with examples of contagion and mimicry. Suicide terrorism spread from <a href="https://nationalinterest.org/feature/the-shia-shift-why-iran-hezbollah-abandoned-martyrdom-25992">Iran</a> to <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2015/11/lebanon-beirut-bombings-reveal-appalling-disregard-for-human-life/">Lebanon</a> to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/sri-lanka-leaders-promises-reorganization-of-security-services-in-wake-of-easter-bombings/2019/04/26/84beda66-6792-11e9-a698-2a8f808c9cfb_story.html">Sri Lanka</a> to <a href="http://www.terrorismanalysts.com/pt/index.php/pot/article/view/73/html">the Palestinian territories</a>. It has been used by <a href="https://dss.princeton.edu/catalog/resource1057">at least 58 different groups</a> in <a href="http://cup.columbia.edu/book/dying-to-kill/9780231133203">35 countries</a>. </p>
<p>Just as plants and animals mimic other species to lure prey or hide from predators, mimicry enables violent groups to portray themselves in a variety of guises for both offensive and defensive purposes.</p>
<p>Mimicry might involve imitating actions or behavior. An al-Qaida member in Europe, for example, might disguise himself by drinking alcohol, going to strip clubs or gambling. This deceptive signaling can help him move easily among Western targets and not raise suspicion. </p>
<p>Mimicry can also be changing one’s physical appearance. In the case of terrorist operations, groups blend into their surroundings, or don the uniforms of rival groups to sow confusion. They might change their looks and attire to mimic something less threatening – for example, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=KOTyVBhpTEM">a pregnant woman</a> – to evade detection or invasive searches.</p>
<p>In 2005, Raghab Ahmad ‘Izzat Jaradat of the <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/palestinian-islamic-jihad">Palestinian Islamic Jihad</a> armed group detonated an explosive belt aboard a bus near Haifa, Israel. He wore an Israeli army uniform and carried a conscript bag to avoid drawing attention. This became a common tactic <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/1465175/hamas-militants-wearing-israeli-military-uniforms-killed-soldiers-idf/">used by Hamas militants</a> to infiltrate Israeli hard targets.</p>
<h2>False claims of responsibility</h2>
<p>Deception can also take the form of mimicry when a group makes a false claim of responsibility or attributes a failed operation to their enemies or rivals. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09546553.2018.1540982">Willingness to claim responsibility</a> or allocate blame depends on whether violent tactics are popular or unpopular with their constituency of supporters and whether they succeed or fail. The Islamic State, for example, rarely claimed responsibility for failed attacks. </p>
<p>Groups might falsely claim responsibility to garner publicity, while the actual perpetrators might want to avoid responsibility. </p>
<p>Al-Qaida didn’t immediately claim responsibility for the 9/11 attacks, although <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/bin-laden-claims-responsibility-for-9-11-1.513654">subsequent statements and comments</a> left no doubt as to their culpability. The reasons for this reticence relate to their <a href="https://www.pastemagazine.com/politics/september-11th/911-accomplished-every-goal-that-osama-bin-laden-w/">goals at the time</a>: to demoralize the West, galvanize Muslim extremists and instigate armed conflict with the West in Afghanistan and elsewhere. From this perspective it didn’t matter which faction perpetrated the attacks.</p>
<p>Following an August 2001 <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/10/world/at-least-14-dead-as-suicide-bomber-strikes-jerusalem.html">suicide bombing at a Sbarro pizzeria</a> in Jerusalem, multiple Palestinian terrorist organizations <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/20202305">claimed responsibility</a> for the attack. As a result, the group that was in fact responsible, Hamas, developed mimic-proof signatures such as recording videos in advance in which the bomber claims responsibility for the attack. </p>
<p>These videos branded Hamas’ ownership of attacks and undermined the reputations of rival groups who falsely claimed the attacks as their own. This <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1057610X.2016.1141005">innovation is now a norm</a> and has changed the way terror groups convey ownership.</p>
<h2>Deceiving MAGA</h2>
<p>The Jan. 6 attack at the Capitol was not antifa. The arrests thus far have been <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-capitol-mob-antifa-undercov/fact-check-men-who-stormed-capitol-identified-by-reuters-are-not-undercover-antifa-as-posts-claim-idUSKBN29E0QO">dedicated Trump supporters</a>, based on their social media posts. </p>
<p>But in the ultimate form of deception, <a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/jan/10/social-media-offer-pardon-capitol-rioters-fake-doj/">a post</a> allegedly from the <a href="https://www.justice.gov/pardon/staff-profile/meet-acting-pardon-attorney">Department of Justice’s acting pardon attorney</a> appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/big-techs-rejection-of-parler-shuts-down-a-site-favored-by-trump-supporters-and-used-by-participants-in-the-us-capitol-insurrection-153070">Parler</a>, the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/09/tech/parler-suspended-apple-app-store/index.html">now-suspended social network app</a> popular with the far right and people who’ve been kicked off of Twitter. It requested individuals who had stormed the Capitol to provide their name, address, license information and details of what they did that day in order to receive a pardon.</p>
<p>The real Justice Department hastily <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/statement-misinformation-social-media-regarding-office-pardon-attorney">issued a statement</a> advising Trump supporters that “the information circulating on social media was inauthentic and should not be taken seriously.”</p>
<p>A few days later, the FBI opened <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2021-01-12/fbi-arrests-new-york-man-in-connection-with-capitol-riots">numerous investigations</a> of assault and seditious conspiracy based in part on information gleaned from social media. </p>
<p>Mimicry is both offensive and defensive. Just like with predators and prey in nature, when it comes to acts of terrorism, what you see is not always what you get.</p>
<p>[<em>Get our most insightful politics and election stories.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/politics-weekly-74/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=politics-most">Sign up for The Conversation’s Politics Weekly</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/153193/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The research is supported in part by the Office of Naval Research “Documenting the Virtual Caliphate” #N00014-16-1-3174. All opinions are exclusively those of the author and do not represent the Department of Defense or the Navy. Mia Bloom is a member of the Evidence Based Cyber Security Research program at GSU and a Fellow at New America.</span></em></p>Mimicking other groups and making false claims of responsibility are popular deception tactics used in terrorism.Mia M. Bloom, Evidence Based Cyber Security Program, Georgia State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1506032020-11-29T13:12:13Z2020-11-29T13:12:13ZTrump’s lies about the election show how disinformation erodes democracy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371747/original/file-20201127-21-elv928.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5942%2C3958&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with reporters after participating in a video teleconference call with members of the military on Nov. 26, 2020, at the White House in Washington. He reiterated his baseless claims during the news conference that the Nov. 3 election was 'rigged.'</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Recent polls have found that <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/09/republicans-free-fair-elections-435488?nname=politico-nightly&nid=00000170-c000-da87-af78-e185fa700000&nrid=0000014e-f10a-dd93-ad7f-f90f318e0001&nlid=2670445">70 per cent of Republican supporters</a> in the United States believe that President Donald Trump was defeated in an unfair or fraudulent election, echoing claims made by both <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/25/video/russia-us-election-disinformation.html">foreign and domestic</a> disinformation campaigns.</p>
<p>Numerous legal challenges by the Trump campaign have been defeated in courts across the country, and rumours about election fraud have been repeatedly debunked. That includes by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/nov/24/fox-news-laura-ingraham-tucker-carlson-rush-limbaugh-trump">some journalists on Fox News</a> and Republican state officials, such as <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2020/11/25/georgia-secretary-of-state-election-integrity-2020-column/6407586002/">Brad Raffensperger</a>, Georgia’s Republican secretary of state. But it’s apparently not enough for elections to be free from fraud — they must be perceived as such.</p>
<p>Even after Joe Biden takes office, millions of Republican supporters will continue to believe the election was illegitimate. This is not just a problem for a smooth transition to a Biden administration. Rather, it’s the latest symptom of a dysfunctional public sphere.</p>
<p>Democratic societies need to include citizens in political processes, incorporate high-quality information into decision-making and ensure a baseline of mutual respect. While any particular political discussion may fall short of these ideals, the <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/deliberative-systems/systemic-approach-to-deliberative-democracy/B7C5BC1B4959B5E470CE77260AE52DE8">system as a whole</a> must promote these three basic democratic functions. </p>
<h2>The dangers of disinformation</h2>
<p>In our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912920938143">recent article for <em>Political Research Quarterly</em></a>, we show how disinformation campaigns attack these functions. Individual instances of harmful communication can be successfully challenged, but their volume and persistence, and their concerted attacks on institutions and norms that enable productive political discourse, suggest more serious and lasting damage.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Rudy Giuliani gestures at a news conference." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371642/original/file-20201126-17-onsxu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371642/original/file-20201126-17-onsxu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371642/original/file-20201126-17-onsxu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371642/original/file-20201126-17-onsxu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371642/original/file-20201126-17-onsxu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371642/original/file-20201126-17-onsxu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371642/original/file-20201126-17-onsxu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rudy Giuliani, a lawyer for Trump, speaks during a news conference in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 19, 2020, alleging a series of outlandish acts of electoral fraud.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Disinformation is communication that intentionally promotes misunderstanding, through lies, misrepresentations, deceptive sourcing or other tactics. Disinformation campaigns are organized efforts that use disinformation to achieve political or economic aims. </p>
<p>Russia has been seen as the primary source of disinformation campaigns in the 2016 election, and <a href="https://about.fb.com/news/2020/09/removing-coordinated-inauthentic-behavior-russia/">Russia and other foreign states</a> continue <a href="https://www.ic3.gov/Media/Y2020/PSA200928">to target</a> the U.S., but <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=3703701">American partisan elites</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/5-types-of-misinformation-to-watch-out-for-while-ballots-are-being-counted-and-after-149509">citizens</a> are primarily responsible for disinformation in the 2020 election.</p>
<p>While disinformation campaigns may be initiated by a small number of people, they have much greater impact when their claims are amplified by <a href="https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/types-sources-and-claims-covid-19-misinformation">high-profile influencers and ordinary members of the public</a>.</p>
<h2>Three harmful forms of disinformation</h2>
<p>We identify three forms of disinformation that can contribute to long-lasting harms. </p>
<p>The first is corrosive falsehood, which is not garden-variety lying so much as an attempt to undermine institutions that typically provide high-quality information or correct false beliefs, such as professional news media and government information agencies. Russian propagandists, conservative commentators and Trump have consistently <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/03/the-2020-disinformation-war/605530/">attacked the credibility</a> of professional journalists, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305118776010">accused news organizations</a> of spreading “fake news” and created <a href="https://www.cjr.org/analysis/as-election-looms-a-network-of-mysterious-pink-slime-local-news-outlets-nearly-triples-in-size.php">actual fake news organizations</a> to push partisan messages. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A Trump supporters holds up a fake news sign during a Trump rally." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371643/original/file-20201126-21-1nmy69g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371643/original/file-20201126-21-1nmy69g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371643/original/file-20201126-21-1nmy69g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371643/original/file-20201126-21-1nmy69g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371643/original/file-20201126-21-1nmy69g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371643/original/file-20201126-21-1nmy69g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371643/original/file-20201126-21-1nmy69g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In this April 2018 photo, an audience member holds a ‘fake news’ sign during a Trump rally in Michigan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Paul Sancya)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Social media platforms did little to push back against false information surrounding the 2016 election. They have <a href="https://www.eipartnership.net/policy-analysis/platform-policies">tried to do so</a> this year, and as a result they have come <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2020/11/03/facebook-twitter-trump-giuliani-censorship-bias-biden-election-2020/6149742002/">under attack</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-tech-firms-have-tried-to-stop-disinformation-and-voter-intimidation-and-come-up-short-148771">How tech firms have tried to stop disinformation and voter intimidation – and come up short</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The repeated harms of corrosive falsehoods can culminate in what we refer to as “epistemic cynicism,” which might lead citizens to distrust accurate sources of information, regularly dismiss claims as the result of partisan commitments, or cease to believe in any shared reality.</p>
<p>The second harm is moral denigration. Disinformation campaigns regularly make false or misleading claims to vilify individuals or misrepresent their beliefs. For instance, Trump and his allies have spent months promoting conspiracy theories about Joe Biden under the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/05/opinion/sunday/trump-twitter-biden-misinformation.html">#BidenCrimeFamily hashtag</a> — or intentional misspellings of the hashtag, once social media companies began to try to slow the spread of falsehoods. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Donald Trump, in a red jacket wearing a red Make America Great baseball cap, tosses a golf ball from a golf cart." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371641/original/file-20201126-13-pmfr6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1847%2C1231&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371641/original/file-20201126-13-pmfr6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371641/original/file-20201126-13-pmfr6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371641/original/file-20201126-13-pmfr6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371641/original/file-20201126-13-pmfr6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371641/original/file-20201126-13-pmfr6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371641/original/file-20201126-13-pmfr6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Trump has tossed out a lot of disinformation throughout his presidency and particularly in the post-election period as he tries to baselessly suggest the election he lost was rigged.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>More broadly, leading Democrats have been <a href="https://www.factcheck.org/2020/10/meme-spreads-misinformation-on-presidential-endorsements/">portrayed as supporters</a> of shadowy <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-donald-trump-will-try-to-scapegoat-george-soros-to-win-re-election-140146">globalist cabals</a>, <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/09/06/antifa-riots-could-be-part-of-democrat-power-grab-devine/">violent antifa factions</a> or <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/10/republicans-baseless-pedophilia-accusations-explained.html">child-trafficking and pedophilia rings</a>. Such claims provoke antipathy and disgust, and if believed they justify a total disregard for anything the accused individuals say. </p>
<p>Online campaigns of these types of moral denigration contribute to what we call “techno-affective polarization.” While partisans have become increasingly hostile to their political opponents for some time, social media appear to amplify these tensions. </p>
<p>Despite the fact that Biden received more votes in key states like Arizona and Georgia, as well as in the national popular vote, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/05/technology/stop-the-steal-facebook-group.html">so-called Stop the Steal campaigns</a> emerged on social media and in various right-wing media outlets.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman and two children dressed in rain jackets hold up a Stop Election Fraud sign" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371644/original/file-20201126-21-l10z98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371644/original/file-20201126-21-l10z98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371644/original/file-20201126-21-l10z98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371644/original/file-20201126-21-l10z98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371644/original/file-20201126-21-l10z98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371644/original/file-20201126-21-l10z98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371644/original/file-20201126-21-l10z98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Trump supporters hold signs as they attend a ‘Stop The Steal’ rally at the Oregon State Capitol on Nov. 14, 2020, in Salem, Ore.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Paula Bronstein)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These disinformation campaigns reflect the same rhetoric as the baseless #BidenCrimeFamily hashtags, wrongly implying that political opponents are so undesirable that they could only win by cheating, which they are willing to do because they are corrupt.</p>
<h2>Fake accounts, fake voters</h2>
<p>The third harm is unjustified inclusion, when people without rights to participate in a democratic process do so at the expense of legitimate participants. </p>
<p>Most obviously, foreign disinformation campaigns achieve this by using fake accounts or bots claiming to be American citizens. Domestic and foreign agitators have also used fake accounts to pretend to be members of particular groups, such as antifa or <a href="http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/3274289">Black Lives Matter activists</a>, to misrepresent their views and widen societal divisions.</p>
<p>Unjustified inclusion often leads to unjustified exclusion, such as when the voices of real citizens are drowned out, or when real individuals are labelled as fake. This, too, is a common strategy of disinformation campaigns. </p>
<p>There have also been widespread, false accusations that anti-racism protesters or victims of gun violence are actually <a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3359229">paid actors</a>, or that millions of <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=3703701">fake people are voting by mail</a>. Over time, such allegations can produce a situation of pervasive inauthenticity, when people believe that fake or illegal participation in their democracy is widespread.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man on a bicycle in a Trump T-shirt sprays something at someone standing nearby" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371645/original/file-20201126-17-n3qf8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371645/original/file-20201126-17-n3qf8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371645/original/file-20201126-17-n3qf8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371645/original/file-20201126-17-n3qf8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371645/original/file-20201126-17-n3qf8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371645/original/file-20201126-17-n3qf8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371645/original/file-20201126-17-n3qf8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Trump supporter sprays a substance as he is surrounded by anti-Trump demonstrators at a Stop the Steal march on Nov. 14, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While elections and the peaceful transfer of power are seen as the minimal conditions for democracy, it’s becoming increasingly clear that a healthy, knowledgeable public sphere is actually fundamental to the proper functioning of elections. </p>
<p>If citizens disbelieve the institutions that count ballots and the organizations that accurately and credibly report on those results, if they see political opponents as unworthy of being heard, if they dismiss the voices and votes of other citizens as fake or illegal, then it will be impossible to agree on what a legitimate election looks like. </p>
<p>Without being able to talk to each other, who gets the most votes may not matter.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150603/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Tenove receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Spencer McKay receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p>If citizens disbelieve the institutions that count ballots and the organizations that accurately report on those results, it will be impossible to agree on what a legitimate election looks like.Chris Tenove, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Political Science, University of British ColumbiaSpencer McKay, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow, New York University; Research Associate, University of British ColumbiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1459952020-09-17T11:25:37Z2020-09-17T11:25:37ZFrom Washington to Trump, all presidents have told lies (but only some have told them for the right reasons)<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358440/original/file-20200916-16-l9zkoa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C52%2C2176%2C1690&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">President Nixon at a White House news conference in March 1973.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/NixonsWatergateTestimony/d59d9c49c6164dbdafc4647310ca0c26/photo?Query=nixon&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=7400&currentItemNo=10">AP Photo/Charles Tasnadi, File</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Michael Cohen, in his recent <a href="https://www.skyhorsepublishing.com/9781510764699/disloyal-a-memoir/">book,</a> has called President Trump a <a href="https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2020/09/08/Michael-Cohens-tell-all-book-out-Tuesday-calls-Trump-liar-bully/1041599562972/">“fraud,” a “bigot,” a “bully” – and, most emphatically, a “liar”</a>. The Trump administration’s response to this book simply reverses the accusation, calling Cohen someone <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/cohen-trump-book/2020/09/05/235aa10a-ef96-11ea-ab4e-581edb849379_story.html">who attempts to “profit off of lies”</a>. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, the media has often noted the frequency with which President Trump lies. The Washington Post, for instance, maintains a running database of what it terms the President’s “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/trump-claims-database/?utm_term=.27babcd5e58c&itid=lk_inline_manual_2&itid=lk_inline_manual_2">false or misleading claims</a>” – which now number over 20,000, or an average of 12 per day. </p>
<p>Media’s accounts of Trump’s lies would seem to indicate that most people are wholeheartedly opposed to lying – and, in particular, opposed to being lied to by presidents. And yet a recent <a href="https://progressive.org/dispatches/lies-more-lies-presidential-history-lueders-200810/">survey of presidential deception</a> found that all American presidents – from Washington to Trump – have told lies, knowingly, in their public statements.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://phil.washington.edu/people/michael-blake">political philosopher</a>, with a focus on how people try to reason together through political disagreement, I argue that not all lies are the same. </p>
<p>History shows examples of presidents who have lied for a larger public purpose – and have been forgiven. </p>
<h2>The morality of deception</h2>
<p>Why, though, are lies thought so wrongful in the first instance?</p>
<p>Immanuel Kant, in the 18th century, provided one powerful account of <a href="https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199577415.001.0001/acprof-9780199577415-chapter-4">the wrongness of lying</a>. For Kant, lying was wrong in much the same way that threats and coercion are wrong. All of these override the autonomous will of another person, and treat that person as a mere tool. </p>
<p>For Kant, human beings were morally special precisely because they could use reason to decide what to do. When a gunman uses threats to coerce a person to do a particular act, he disrespects that person’s rational agency. Lies are a similar disrespect to rational agency: One’s decision has been manipulated, so that the act is no longer one’s own.</p>
<p>Kant defended these conclusions without exception. Kant regarded any lie as immoral – even one told to <a href="http://www.mesacc.edu/%7Edavpy35701/text/kant-sup-right-to-lie.pdf">a murderer at the door</a>. </p>
<p>Modern-day philosophers have often accepted Kant’s account, while seeking exceptions from its rigidness. In his book “Ethics for Adversaries,” philosopher <a href="https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty/arthur-applbaum">Arthur Applbaum</a> <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691057392/ethics-for-adversaries">explains</a> why citizens might sometimes consent to being deceived, which might be useful in understanding presidential deception. </p>
<p>For example, a political leader who gives honest answers about a forthcoming military operation would likely imperil that operation – and most people would not want that. The key, though, is that people might accept such deception, after the fact, because of what that deception made possible. </p>
<p>To take one example: The British government sought to deceive the Nazi command about its plans for invasion – which entailed <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/06/06/d-day-would-be-nearly-impossible-pull-off-today-heres-why/">lying even to British allies</a>. Applbaum argues that what might seem like simple deception might become justified, if those deceived could eventually consent – after the fact – to being so deceived.</p>
<h2>Honorable lies?</h2>
<p>History reveals examples of how presidents must sometimes lie, and how their lies might sometimes be morally defensible. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358427/original/file-20200916-18-vkbj10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=24%2C21%2C2019%2C1513&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358427/original/file-20200916-18-vkbj10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358427/original/file-20200916-18-vkbj10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358427/original/file-20200916-18-vkbj10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358427/original/file-20200916-18-vkbj10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358427/original/file-20200916-18-vkbj10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358427/original/file-20200916-18-vkbj10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Leaders could lie for many reasons, and some lies might be morally defensible.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mobili/43673422552/in/photolist-29xgGY1-2hKoNBg-2j1pTjB-2hspAbt-2iQpJ3v-2jjMAs3-RstBMm-RfyVW8-2j4Sr86-2gQ51vv-NZZjP5-2iNirUn-2iUnp18-MG2Grz-2iyLLE3-2iWsiDV-2iPdXoT-5oZqVC-2ixpw1Y-2hKrrmT-2ipMPiT-2hKsymy-TBXjDU-2hx4j17-26maq25-PdLjs-2hKoTPA-2hiFkvJ-2hKoSTs-2hKsCuJ-P6wqKa-2iV4QKp-LqVmws-299JgzE-2iQpFM3-25pSpbv-2hHkLEC-2iJDa2u-QpuRP5-LMgAhE-2j8hpCk-Y6nwUN-2hKrr1h-2hXFKWP-2hHY2Cg-2iM55ri-2j7Yrs9-M96MPT-2iuTs8d-NhAJd8">Mobilus In Mobili</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>During the 1930s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was convinced that Hitler’s expansionism in Europe was a threat to the liberal democratic project itself, but he faced an electorate without any will to intervene in a European war. Roosevelt chose to insist publicly that he was opposed to any intervention – while doing everything he could to prepare for war and to covertly help the <a href="https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/2017/01/04/how-franklin-d-roosevelt-prepared-us-for-wwii/">British cause</a>. </p>
<p>As early as 1948, historian Thomas Bailey noted that Roosevelt had made a calculated choice to both prepare for war and insist he was doing no such thing. To be open about his view of Hitler would have led to <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=CVqTXJjmtmUC&pg=PA298&lpg=PA298&dq=roosevelt+lying&source=bl&ots=0frUEvK02d&sig=ACfU3U3djJZzxplhbGcQwVXwPOAqWJaa2w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiQ_cKC_evrAhUBip4KHUTjDqY4ChDoATAGegQICBAB#v=onepage&q=the%20man%20in%20the%20street&f=false">his defeat in the 1940 election.</a></p>
<p>Prior to Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln made similar calculations. Lincoln’s lies regarding his negotiations with the Confederacy – described by <a href="https://www.marlboro.edu/live/profiles/32-meg-mott">Meg Mott</a>, a professor of political theory, as being “<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2013/11/24/politics/presidents-lie/index.html">devious</a>” – may have been instrumental in preserving the United States as a single country.</p>
<p>“Honest Abe” Lincoln was willing to open peace negotiations with the Confederacy – knowing that much of his own party thought that only unconditional surrender by the South would settle the question of slavery. At one point, Lincoln wrote a note to his own party asserting – falsely – that there were “<a href="https://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/2629860.0021.104/--hampton-roads-peace-conference-a-final-test-of-lincolns?rgn=main;view=fulltext">no peace commissioners</a>” being sent to a conference with the Confederacy. </p>
<p>A member of the Congress later noted that, in the absence of that note, the 13th Amendment – which ended the practice of chattel slavery – <a href="https://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/2629860.0021.104/--hampton-roads-peace-conference-a-final-test-of-lincolns?rgn=main;view=fulltext">would not have been passed</a>.</p>
<h2>Good lies and bad lies</h2>
<p>The problem, of course, is that a great many presidential lies cannot be so easily linked to important purposes. </p>
<p>President Bill Clinton’s lies about his sexual activities were either simply self-serving or told to <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=Fe88rwSW8ywC&pg=PT507&lpg=PT507&dq=bill+clinton+%22the+lie+saved+me%22&source=bl&ots=AJY7EQZHoq&sig=ACfU3U2uGl7_XXWvjxHXE5jYNH0XyzOZyA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjFsPGE0enrAhWTvJ4KHY_WB5MQ6AEwC3oECAIQAQ#v=onepage&q=bill%20clinton%20%22the%20lie%20saved%20me%22&f=false">preserve his presidency</a>. </p>
<p>Similarly, President Richard Nixon’s insistence that he knew nothing about <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/nixon-insists-that-he-is-not-a-crook">the Watergate break-in</a> was most likely a lie. John Dean, Nixon’s legal counsel, confirmed years later that the president <a href="https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2014/08/07/john-dean-uncovers-what-nixon-knew-about-watergate">knew about, and approved of</a>, the plan to rob the Democratic National Committee headquarters. This scandal eventually ended Nixon’s presidency. </p>
<p>In both cases, these presidents faced a significant threat to their presidencies - and chose deception to save not the nation, but their own power. </p>
<h2>President Trump and truth</h2>
<p>It is likely that President Trump has lied <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/06/podcast-glenn-kessler-david-corn-lies-washington-post-fact-checker/">more than previous presidents</a> in public – and, perhaps more significantly, he has also apparently lied about a wider variety of topics than his predecessors.</p>
<p>Soon after being elected he claimed, falsely, that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/22/trump-inauguration-crowd-sean-spicers-claims-versus-the-evidence">his inaugural crowd</a> was the largest ever. More recently, he insisted that Hurricane Dorian was likely to affect the coast of <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/06/politics/trump-sharpie-hurricane-dorian-alabama/index.html">Alabama</a> – and he seems to have altered a map with a Sharpie to bolster his false claim. The pattern of deception has continued, most recently with his acknowledgment that he <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-coronavirus-bob-woodward_n_5f58fd32c5b6b48507fabc99">deceived the public</a> about the coronavirus – and then his insistence <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-is-lying-about-lying-1058436/">that he had done no such thing</a>. </p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>What is striking about these lies, in contrast to the lies of previous presidents, is that they have generally been told in the absence of a particular and acute threat to either the president’s power or to the preservation of the United States. </p>
<p>Presidents have lied for good reasons and for bad ones, but very few have chosen to lie without a particularly unusual threat to themselves or their nation. If some presidential lies might be forgivable, it could be only because of the good to the nation those lies bring about; and President Trump’s lies seem unlikely to meet that test.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145995/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Blake has received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities.</span></em></p>Some presidents have lied for honorable reasons, while for others the lies have been simply self-serving.Michael Blake, Professor of Philosophy, Public Policy and Governance, University of WashingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1279662019-12-10T13:55:28Z2019-12-10T13:55:28ZIn its anti-‘Medicare for All’ push, the health insurance industry pulls from an old playbook<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305668/original/file-20191206-90552-1xw9rze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">If you're strangled by health care costs, are you really 'free'?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/strangled-by-medical-costs-6212014?src=ef733769-1e16-4d5d-93f3-d126aa38fc93-2-30">jwblinn/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As a debate continues to rage within the Democratic Party over “Medicare for All,” the health care industry has quietly girded itself to fight the elimination of for-profit health care.</p>
<p>In the summer of 2018, trade groups representing hospitals, insurance companies and pharmaceutical makers <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/agenda/2019/11/25/medicare-for-all-lobbying-072110">banded together</a> to form the <a href="https://americashealthcarefuture.org/">Partnership for America’s Health Care Future</a>.</p>
<p>Determined to curtail support for universal health care, this group is disseminating messages that single-payer systems like Medicare for All would force individuals off their health care plans, thereby eliminating patient choice. </p>
<p>The trade group argues that the country should “<a href="https://americashealthcarefuture.org/">build on what’s working in health care and fix what’s broken – not start over</a>.” That way, Americans can continue to have the “greater choice and control over their coverage and care” that comes from free-market health care.</p>
<p>In appealing to choice, the Partnership for America’s Health Care Future is evoking a value that’s important to many Americans. As a former public relations practitioner, I’ve seen corporations do this countless times in a range of contexts. </p>
<p>It’s often deceptive. But it works.</p>
<h2>Freedom as a frame</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781315671635">My research</a> has found that when corporations sense that their viability is threatened, they often frame the free market as the optimal venue through which Americans can pursue and realize their dreams. </p>
<p>They do this by appealing to a core American belief: <a href="https://www.people-press.org/values-questions/q30e/success-in-life-determined-by-forces-outside-our-control/#total">individual autonomy</a>. This value is remarkably durable. <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/07/american-dream-suffering/397475/">A poll</a> taken in 2015 – just six years after the end of the Great Recession – found that 65% of respondents believed they could attain the American dream through their own individual efforts.</p>
<p>In the late 1930s, the National Association of Manufacturers was the <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781315671635">first organization to pursue this strategy</a> in a mass public relations campaign. The industry trade group was concerned that the New Deal’s regulations – and its support for unions – would be bad for business. So over the next several years, the group’s <a href="https://www.hagley.org/librarynews/research-national-association-manufacturers-and-visual-propaganda">American Way campaign</a> used ads, speeches and op-eds to argue that values like freedom of religion would be threatened by more market regulation.</p>
<p>Such appeals can be compelling, but they’re deceptive. The marketplace cannot be compared with individual freedoms. You can’t simply decide to open a business on a whim or work for an employer of your choosing. There are barriers to entry: You need capital to start a business and you need to be hired for most jobs. But no one needs permission to follow a religion of their choosing.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, the National Association of Manufacturers’ <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781315671635">internal polling</a> found that these messages resonated. By the early 1940s, about 75% of Americans indicated that the free enterprise system was essential to their sense of personal freedom.</p>
<h2>Candidates adopt industry rhetoric</h2>
<p>Now we’re seeing the same story play out in the health care debate.</p>
<p>The Partnership for America’s Health Care Future maintains that Medicare for All would be a “<a href="https://americashealthcarefuture.org/?post_type=proposal">one-size-fits-all approach</a>” that imposes a “government-controlled health insurance system” on Americans. This, it says, would thwart “patient choice” while handing over important health care decisions to government bureaucrats.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">A Partnership for America’s Health Care Future television advertisement.</span></figcaption>
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<p>There are two prongs to this message. Each highlights threats to autonomy.</p>
<p>The first, patient choice, carries a halo. It would be difficult to imagine arguments against choice. </p>
<p>But a free market health care system already constrains choice. Most Americans under 65 <a href="https://www.cbo.gov/publication/51385">get their health care coverage through work</a>, meaning their employers actually choose what plans are available. Once employees have signed up for a plan, their ability to freely chose their care and providers is often dictated by the plan. Meanwhile, the looming threat of co-pays and deductibles – especially in households living paycheck-to-paycheck – <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/healthiest-communities/articles/2019-02-07/lack-of-health-insurance-coverage-leads-people-to-avoid-seeking-care">actively discourages people from seeking care</a>. And according to the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, <a href="https://www.citizen.org/article/heres-how-broken-the-u-s-healthcare-system-is/">almost half of Americans with health insurance</a> still had difficulty affording medical care in 2018.</p>
<p>The second part of the message, “government-run health care,” is actually an industry-tested phrase that dates back to the early 1990s, when industry groups fought President Bill Clinton’s proposed health care reforms. Before that period, <a href="https://fair.org/home/government-run-healthcare-is-a-product-of-health-industry-run-media/?awt_l=D_WOG&awt_m=gfOCWWi8FIR._TQ">the phrase was pretty much nonexistent</a>.</p>
<p>In the early 1990s, an association of health care companies, hospitals and drug companies formed a group – much like today’s Partnership for America’s Health Care Future – called the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1994/02/06/health-cares-heavy-hitter/ffb30371-3ef2-4cac-8b58-3fc7db1c702e/">Healthcare Leadership Council</a>. This organization blanketed airwaves <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt31nhleeCg">with ads</a> that claimed that Clinton’s proposals would “force” people “to pick from a few plans.” </p>
<p>“Having choices we don’t like is no choice at all,” a woman grouses in one of the ads. “If we let the government choose,” a voice-over adds, “we lose.” </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">We’re starting to see industry-funded health care policy ads that echo those of the early 1990s.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Then, as now, health care companies asserted that their private plans were a bulwark against a government supposedly intent on restraining individual autonomy. Of course, as noted earlier, a profit-driven system doesn’t necessarily equate to more choice or better outcomes. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, during the 2020 Democratic primary, even health care reform-minded candidates like <a href="https://peteforamerica.com/policies/health-care/">Pete Buttigieg</a> have already adopted the industry’s language of “choice” and “autonomy.” </p>
<p>“I will put Americans in charge of their own health care with affordable choices for all,” <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/09/19/pete-buttigieg-heres-better-way-do-medicare-for-all/">he wrote</a> in a Washington Post op-ed explaining why he wasn’t backing Medicare for All.</p>
<p>Yet as the health care debate ensues, it’s important for Americans to understand what companies are doing to protect their profits – and how appealing to prevailing cultural values can actually undermine individual well-being.</p>
<p>[ <em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/127966/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Burton St. John III does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In the wake of the New Deal, the business community realized that appealing to widely shared American values could get the public to oppose measures that curbed corporate power.Burton St. John III, Professor of Public Relations, University of Colorado BoulderLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/987982019-08-22T09:53:49Z2019-08-22T09:53:49ZHow to become a great impostor<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224740/original/file-20180625-19416-15pvd1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ferdinand Waldo Demara</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Unlike <a href="http://time.com/3878450/life-magazine-10-iconic-covers-from-the-famed-weekly/">other icons who have appeared on the front</a> of Life magazine, Ferdinand Waldo Demara was not famed as an astronaut, actor, hero or politician. In fact, his 23-year career was rather varied. He was, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/09/obituaries/ferdinand-waldo-demara-60-an-impostor-in-varied-fields.html">among other things</a>, a doctor, professor, prison warden and monk. Demara was not some kind of genius either – he actually left school without any qualifications. Rather, he was “The Great Impostor”, a charming rogue who tricked his way to notoriety.</p>
<p>My research speciality is crimes by deception and Demara is a man who I find particularly interesting. For, unlike other notorious con-artists, imposters and fraudsters, he did not steal and defraud for the money alone. Demara’s goal was to attain prestige and status. As <a href="https://archive.org/details/greatimpostor010210mbp/page/n7">his biographer Robert Crichton noted</a> in 1959, “Since his aim was to do good, anything he did to do it was justified. With Demara the end always justifies the means.” </p>
<p>Though we know what he did, and his motivations, there is still one big question that has been left unanswered – why did people believe him? While we don’t have accounts from everyone who encountered Demara, my investigation into his techniques has uncovered some of the secrets of how he managed to keep his high level cons going for so long. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-we-fall-for-scams-55543">Why do we fall for scams?</a>
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<p>Upon leaving education in 1935, Demara lacked the skills to succeed in the organisations he was drawn to. He wanted the status that came with being a priest, an academic or a military officer, but didn’t have the patience to achieve the necessary qualifications. And so his life of deception started. At just 16-years-old, with a desire to become a member of a silent order of Trappist monks, Demara ran away from his home in Lawrence, Massachusetts, lying about his age to gain entry. </p>
<p>When he was found by his parents he was allowed to stay, as they believed he would eventually give up. Demara remained with the monks long enough to gain his hood and habit, but was ultimately forced out of the monastery at the age of 18 as his fellow monks felt he lacked the right temperament. </p>
<p>Demara then attempted to join other orders, including the Brothers of Charity children’s home in West Newbury, Massachusetts, but again failed to follow the rules. In response, he stole funds and a car from the home, and joined the army in 1941, at the age of 19. But, as it turned out, the army was not for him either. He disliked military life so much that he stole a friend’s identity and fled, eventually deciding to join the navy instead. </p>
<h2>From monk to medicine</h2>
<p>While in the navy, Demara was accepted for medical training. He passed the basic course but due to his lack of education was not allowed to advance. So, in order to get into the medical school, Demara created his first set of fake documents indicating he already had the needed college qualifications. He was so pleased with his creations that he decided to skip applying to medical school and tried to gain a commission as an officer instead. When his falsified papers were discovered, Demara faked his own death and went on the run again. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-men-who-impersonate-military-personnel-for-stolen-glory-62233">The men who impersonate military personnel for stolen glory</a>
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<p>In 1942, Demara took the identity of Dr Robert Linton French, a former navy officer and psychologist. Demara found French’s details in an old college prospectus which had profiled French when he worked there. Though he worked as a college teacher using French’s name till the end of the war in 1945, Demara was eventually caught and the authorities decided to prosecute him for desertion. </p>
<p>However, due to good behaviour, he only served 18 months of the six-year sentence handed to him, but upon his release he went back to his old ways. This time Demara created a new identity, Cecil Hamann, and enrolled at Northeastern University. Tiring of the effort and time needed to complete his law degree, Demara awarded himself a PhD and, under the persona of “Dr” Cecil Hamann, took up another teaching post at a Christian college, The Brother of Instruction, in Maine in the summer of 1950. </p>
<p>It was here that Demara met and befriended Canadian doctor Joseph Cyr, who was moving to the US to set up a medical practice. Needing help with the immigration paperwork, Cyr gave all his identifying documents to Demara, who offered to fill in the application for him. After the two men parted ways, Demara took copies of Cyr’s paperwork and moved up to Canada. Pretending to be Dr Cyr, Demara approached the Canadian Navy with an ultimatum: make me an officer or I will join the army. Not wanting to lose a trained doctor, Demara’s application was fast tracked. </p>
<p>As a commissioned officer during the Korean war, Demara first served at Stadacona naval base, where he convinced other doctors to contribute to a medical booklet he claimed to be producing for lumberjacks living in remote parts of Canada. With this booklet and the knowledge gained from his time in the US Navy, Demara was able to pass successfully as Dr Cyr.</p>
<h2>A military marvel</h2>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288354/original/file-20190816-192210-1plcku9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288354/original/file-20190816-192210-1plcku9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288354/original/file-20190816-192210-1plcku9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288354/original/file-20190816-192210-1plcku9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288354/original/file-20190816-192210-1plcku9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288354/original/file-20190816-192210-1plcku9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288354/original/file-20190816-192210-1plcku9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288354/original/file-20190816-192210-1plcku9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Demara worked aboard HMCS Cayuga as ship’s doctor (pictured in 1954).</span>
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<p>In 1951, Demara was transferred to be ship’s doctor on the destroyer HMCS Cayuga. Stationed off the coast of Korea, Demara relied on his sick berth attendant, petty officer Bob Horchin, to handle all minor injuries and complaints. Horchin was pleased to have a superior officer who did not interfere in his work and who empowered him to take on more responsibilities.</p>
<p>Though he very successfully passed as a doctor aboard the Cayuga, Demara’s time there came to a dramatic end after three Korean refugees were brought on in need of medical attention. Relying on textbooks and Horchin, Demara successfully treated all three – even completing the amputation of one man’s leg. Recommended for a commendation for his actions, the story was reported in the press where the real Dr Cyr’s mother <a href="https://navalandmilitarymuseum.org/archives/articles/characters/ferdinand-waldo-demara">saw a picture of Demara impersonating her son</a>. Wanting to avoid further public scrutiny and scandal, the Canadian government elected to simply deport Demara back to the US in November 1951.</p>
<p>After returning to America, there were news reports on his actions, and Demara sold his story to Life magazine in 1952. In his biography, Demara notes that he spent the time after his return to the US using his own name and working in different short-term jobs. While he enjoyed the prestige he had gained in his impostor roles, he started to dislike life as Demara, “the great impostor”, gaining weight and developing a drinking problem. </p>
<p>In 1955, Demara somehow acquired the credentials of a Ben W. Jones and disappeared again. As Jones, Demara began working as a guard at Huntsville Prison in Texas, and was eventually put in charge of the maximum security wing that housed the most dangerous prisoners. In 1956, an educational programme that provided prisoners with magazines to read led to Demara’s discovery once more. One of the prisoners found the Life magazine article and showed the cover picture of Demara to prison officals. Despite categorically denying to the prison warden that he was Demara, and pointing to positive feedback he had received from prison officials and inmates about his performance there, Demara chose to run. In 1957, he was caught in North Haven, Maine and served a six-month prison sentence for his actions. </p>
<p>After his release he made several television appearances including on the game show <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33Rz5yYCeks&t=8s">You Bet Your Life</a>, and made a cameo in horror film <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hypnotic_Eye">The Hypnotic Eye</a>. From this point until his death in 1981, Demara would struggle to escape his past notoriety. He eventually returned to the church, getting ordained using his own name and worked as a counsellor at a hospital in California. </p>
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<h2>How Demara did it</h2>
<p>According to biographer Crichton, Demara had an impressive memory, and through his impersonations accumulated a wealth of knowledge on different topics. This, coupled with charisma and good instincts, about human nature helped him trick all those around him. Studies of <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/1034375/the-big-con/">professional criminals</a> often observe that con artists are skilled actors and that a con game is essentially an elaborate performance where only the victim is unaware of what is really going on. </p>
<p>Demara also capitalised on workplace habits and social conventions. He is a prime example of why recruiters shouldn’t rely on paper qualifications over demonstrations of skill. And his habit of allowing subordinates to do things he should be doing meant Demara’s ability went untested, while at the same time engendering appreciation from junior staff. </p>
<p>He observed of his time in academia that there was always opportunity to gain authority and power in an organisation. There were ways to set himself as an authority figure without challenging or threatening others by “expanding into the power vacuum”. He would set up his own committees, for example, rather than joining established groups of academics. Demara says in the biography that starting fresh committees and initiatives often gave him the cover he needed to avoid conflict <a href="https://archive.org/details/greatimpostor010210mbp/page/n7">and scrutiny</a>. </p>
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<p>…there’s no competition, no past standards to measure you by. How can anyone tell you aren’t running a top outfit? And then there’s no past laws or rules or precedents to hold you down or limit you. Make your own rules and interpretations. Nothing like it. Remember it, expand into the power vacuum. </p>
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<p>Working from a position of authority as the head of his own committees further entrenched Demara in professions he was not qualified for. It can be argued that Demara’s most impressive attempt at expansion into the “power vacuum” occurred when teaching as Dr Hamann.</p>
<p>Hamann was considered a prestigious appointee for a small Christian college. Claiming to be a cancer researcher, Demara proposed converting the college into a state-approved university where he would be chancellor. The plans proceeded but Demara was not given a prominent role in the new institution. It was then that Demara decided to take Cyr’s identity and leave for Canada. If Demara had succeeded in becoming chancellor of the new LaMennais College (which would go onto become <a href="https://www.walsh.edu/">Walsh University</a>) it is conceivable that he would have been able to avoid scrutiny or questioning thanks to his position of authority. </p>
<h2>Inherently trustworthy</h2>
<p>Other notable serial impostors and fakes have relied on techniques similar to Demara’s. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/frank-abagnale-crimes-2012-4?r=US&IR=T#he-faked-it-as-a-doctor-by-joking-whenever-he-didnt-know-the-answer-6">Frank Abagnale</a> also recognised the reliance people in large organisations placed on paperwork and looking the part. This insight allowed him at 16 to pass as a 25-year-old airline pilot for Pan Am Airways as portrayed in the film, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264464/">Catch Me If You Can</a>.</p>
<p>More recently, <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/how-to-fake-a-living-qsd5zcvmdbp">Gene Morrison</a> was jailed after it was discovered that he had spent 26 years running a fake forensic science business in the UK. After buying a PhD online, Morrison set up Criminal and Forensic Investigations Bureau (CFIB) and gave expert evidence in over 700 criminal and civil cases from 1977 to 2005. Just like Demara used others to do his work, Morrison subcontracted other forensic experts and then presented the findings in court <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/6383307.stm">as his own</a>. </p>
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<p>Marketing and psychology expert Robert Cialdini’s work on the techniques of persuasion in business might offer insight into how people like Demara can succeed, and why it is that others believe them. Cialdini found that there are <a href="https://www.bakadesuyo.com/2013/06/robert-cialdini-influence/">six universal principles of influence</a> that are used to persuade business professionals: reciprocity, consistency, social proof, getting people to like you, authority and scarcity.</p>
<p>Demara used all of these skills at various points in his impersonations. He would give power to subordinates to hide his lack of knowledge and enable his impersonations (reciprocity). By using other people’s credentials, he was able to manipulate organisations into accepting him, using their own regulations against them (consistency and social proof). Demara’s success in his impersonations points to how likeable he was and how much of an authority he appeared to be. By impersonating academics and professionals, Demara focused on career paths where at the time there was high demand and a degree of scarcity, too. </p>
<p>Laid bare, one can see how Demara tricked his unsuspecting colleagues into believing his lies through manipulation. Yet within this it is interesting to also consider how often we all rely on gut instinct and the appearance of ability rather than witnessed proof. Our gut instinct is built on five questions we ask ourselves when presented with information: does a fact come from a credible source? Do others believe it? Is there plenty of evidence to support it? Is it compatible with what I believe? Does it tell a good story? </p>
<p>Researchers of social trust and solidarity argue that people also have a <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/295478583_Making_The_Truth_Stick_and_The_Myths_Fade_Lessons_from_Cognitive_Psychology">fundamental need to trust</a> strangers to tell the truth in order for society to function. As sociologist <a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a5ae/78f779284090b9cadb9c5b05501c223f9c23.pdf">Niklas Luhmann</a> said, “<a href="https://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/287a">A complete absence of trust would prevent (one) even getting up in the morning</a>.” Trust in people is in a sense a default setting, so to mistrust requires a loss of confidence in someone which must be sparked by some indicator of a lie. </p>
<p>It was only after the prisoner showed the Life article to the Huntsville Prison warden, that they began to ask questions. Until this point, Demara had offered everything his colleagues would need to believe he was a capable member of staff. People accepted Demara’s claims because it felt right to believe him. He had built a rapport and influenced people’s views of who he was and what he could do. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/five-psychological-reasons-why-people-fall-for-scams-and-how-to-avoid-them-102421">Five psychological reasons why people fall for scams – and how to avoid them</a>
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<p>Another factor to consider when asking why people would believe Demara was the rising dependency on paper proofs of identity at that time. Following World War II, improvements in and a shift towards reliance on paper documentation occurred as social and economic mobility changed in America. Underlying Demara’s impersonations and the actions of many modern con artists is the reliance we have long placed in first paper proofs of identity such as birth certificates, ID cards and, more recently, digital forms of identification. </p>
<p>As his preoccupation was more with prestige than money, it can be argued that Demara had a harder time than other impostors who were only driven by profit. Demara stood out as a surgeon and a prison guard, he was a good fake and influencer, but the added attention that came from his attempts at multiple important professions and media attention led to his downfall. Abagnale similarly had issues with the attention that came with pretending to be an airline pilot, lawyer and surgeon. In contrast, Morrison stuck to his one impersonation for years, avoiding detection and making money until the quality of his work was investigated.</p>
<p>The trick, it appears, to being a good impostor is essentially to be friendly, have access to a history of being trusted by others, have the right paperwork, build others’ confidence in you and understand the social environment you are entering. Although, when Demara was asked to explain why he committed his crimes he simply said, “Rascality, pure rascality”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98798/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tim Holmes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>How does a man with no education convince everyone he is a priest, professor and doctor?Tim Holmes, Lecturer in Criminology & Criminal Justice, Bangor UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1097022019-01-23T11:47:45Z2019-01-23T11:47:45ZHave you caught a catfish? Online dating can be deceptive<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253768/original/file-20190114-43538-jlhcv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=398%2C1571%2C5417%2C3080&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">You should see the one that got away.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/happy-fisherman-big-catfish-trophy-boat-1154538595">FedBul/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On the internet, you can become <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/comic-riffs/post/nobody-knows-youre-a-dog-as-iconic-internet-cartoon-turns-20-creator-peter-steiner-knows-the-joke-rings-as-relevant-as-ever/2013/07/31/73372600-f98d-11e2-8e84-c56731a202fb_blog.html">anyone you want to</a> – at least for a while. And though deception doesn’t fit well with lasting romance, people lie all the time: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.06.052">Fewer than a third of people in one survey</a> claimed they were always honest in online interactions, and nearly nobody expected others to be truthful. Much of the time, lies are meant to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqy019">make the person telling them seem better</a> somehow – more attractive, more engaging or otherwise worth getting to know.</p>
<p>“Catfishing” is a more advanced effort of digital deception. Named in a <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1584016/">2010 movie</a> that later expanded into an <a href="http://www.mtv.com/shows/catfish-the-tv-show">MTV reality series</a>, a catfish is a person who sets up an intentionally fake profile on one or more social network sites, often with the purpose of defrauding or deceiving other users. </p>
<p>It happens more than people might think – and to more people than might believe it. Many times in my own personal life when I was seeking to meet people online, I found that someone was being deceptive. In one case, I did a <a href="https://images.google.com/">Google image search</a> and found a man’s profile picture featured on a site called “Romance Scams.” Apparently, not everyone looking for love and connection online wants to start from a place of truth and honesty. Yet, as the show demonstrates to viewers, online lies can often be easy to detect, by searching for images and phone numbers and exploring social media profiles. Some people lie anyway – and plenty of others take the bait.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Why would they lie?</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Why might someone become a catfish?</h2>
<p>When a deep emotional bond grows with someone, even via texts, phone calls and instant messages, it can be devastating to find out that person has been lying about some major aspect of their identity or intentions. My analysis of the <a href="https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/153/">first three seasons of the “Catfish” TV show</a> reveals that there are several reasons someone might choose to become a deceitful catfish. On the show, ordinary people who suspect they’re being catfished get help from the hosts to untangle the lies and find the truth.</p>
<p>Sometimes the deception is unintentional. For instance, some people <a href="http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2006.00020.x">don’t know themselves well</a>, so they tend to see and present themselves more positively than is accurate. In episode 13 from the show’s second season, a <a href="http://www.mtv.com/news/3064701/catfish-chasity-family-cousin-mandy/">woman named Chasity</a> uses someone else’s pictures and claims to be named Kristen. Others may intentionally create a fake profile but then <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3188104/">connect with someone unexpectedly deeply</a> and find the situation hard to come clean about.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"947115402139701254"}"></div></p>
<p>Other catfish intend to deceive their targets, though not out of malice. For instance, they pretend to be someone else because they have low self-esteem or for some other reason <a href="https://www.bustle.com/articles/29450-miranda-james-are-a-catfish-miracle-these-skyping-pals-give-us-hope-for-future">think people won’t like the real person</a> they are. On the show, there are several episodes about people who are struggling with aspects of their gender identity or sexual orientation and don’t know how to behave appropriately about those internal conflicts, or who fear bullying or violence if they openly identify their true selves.</p>
<p>Some catfish, though, set out to hurt people: for instance, to get revenge on a particular person because they are angry, hurt or embarrassed about something that has happened between them. In one episode, for instance, a <a href="http://www.mtv.com/news/2384114/catfish-jasmine-mhissy/">woman catfishes her best friend</a> to get back at her because they’re both interested in the same real-world man.</p>
<p>The show also highlighted a few catfish who found enjoyment making fake profiles and <a href="https://www.bustle.com/articles/26966-catfish-tracie-thoms-superfan-sammie-bring-an-episode-thats-both-dark-and-redeeming">getting attention from strangers</a> online. Others wanted to see if they could <a href="https://www.vulture.com/2013/09/catfish-recap-season-2-aaliyah-alicia-iphone.html">make money</a>. Still others hoped to capitalize on the growing popularity of the show itself, wanting to actually meet someone famous or <a href="http://www.mtv.com/news/2158036/catfish-where-now-sneak-peek-dee-pimpin/">become famous</a> by being on TV.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Some people think they’re actually dating a celebrity online.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Why do people fall for a catfish?</h2>
<p>People want to trust those they interact with online and in real life. If a person believes he or she is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444818792425">on a date with someone being deceptive</a>, things tend not to progress to a second date. </p>
<p>In the TV show, victims find out about the lies the catfish have told, exposed by the show’s hosts and co-investigators. Many who learn of being lied to <a href="http://www.mtv.com/video-clips/99acvt/catfish-the-tv-show-confidence-in-jenn">aren’t particularly interested in meeting up</a> with the real person behind the mask they’d been communicating with. </p>
<p>Someone who is enthralled in their connection with another person often fully believes what they’re told – even if it seems too good to be true. This is what scholars call the “<a href="http://psychology.about.com/od/socialpsychology/f/halo-effect.htm">halo effect</a>,” which suggests that if a person likes someone initially, they’re more likely to continue to view them as good, even if that person does something bad. Effectively, that positive first impression has created a figurative angelic halo, suggesting the person is less likely to do wrong. In the very first episode of “Catfish: The TV Show,” Sunny believes that her love interest Jamison is a model holding cue cards on a late-night comedy show and studying to become an anesthesiologist. Sunny has a very hard time accepting that none of those claims are true of Chelsea, the real person claiming to be Jamison.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Sometimes the catfish is someone the victim knows.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A complementary idea, called “hyperpersonal connection,” suggests that people who <a href="http://doi.org/10.1177/009365096023001001">develop deep emotional ties to each other very quickly</a> may be more trusting, and may even feel safer sharing things facelessly online than they would in person. So someone who met a new friend online and felt an immediate connection might share deeply personal feelings and experiences – expecting the other person to reciprocate. Sometimes the catfish do, but they’re not always telling the truth.</p>
<p>Another reason people might not look too deeply into whether the person they’re talking to is real is that they don’t want the relationship to change, even if they say they do – or think they might in the future. If it’s meeting their needs to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.06.052">feel accepted, appreciated, connected and less lonely</a>, why rock the boat? That could risk shattering the fantasy of a potential “happily ever after.” Some people also might not really plan ever to meet in real life anyway. So they don’t feel a need to verify the identity behind the online mask, and any lying will never actually matter.</p>
<p>Other people might feel guilty, as if they were <a href="https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A297135951/AONE?u=googlescholar&sid=AONE&xid=a49adec8">snooping on someone</a> they should trust, who might be upset if they found out their claims were being verified – even though the liar is the one who should feel bad, not the fact-checker.</p>
<p>People can still meet and develop real relationships through dating sites, apps and social media. But catfish are still out there, so it pays to be skeptical, especially if the person is never able to talk on the phone or by video chat. Ask questions about their lives and backgrounds; beware if someone gives fishy answers. Do your own background checking, searching images, phone numbers and social networks like they do on the “Catfish” show. Someone who’s sincere will be impressed at your savvy – and that you care enough to ensure you’re both being honest.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/109702/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicole Marie Allaire does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Online lies can often be easy to detect, by searching for images and phone numbers and exploring social media profiles. Some people lie anyway – and countless others take the bait.Nicole Marie Allaire, Lecturer in English, Iowa State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1032622018-09-14T19:01:46Z2018-09-14T19:01:46ZWhat body language can – and can’t – tell us about Russians accused of Sergei Skripal poisoning<p>Despite what pop psychology articles might suggest, <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6165693/Body-language-expert-says-Russian-novichok-assassins-looked-anxious-stressed-interview.html">detecting deception via body language</a> – or even bodily functions such as respiration, heart rate and skin conductivity, the staples of the famed polygraph – is not in any way a reliable science. Such measures can indeed accurately pin point when someone is nervous – but not necessarily when they are lying. </p>
<p>When it comes to investigating and convicting criminals, British police rely on solid evidence. That is what detectives strive to collect – and what counts at court. And this is what the Metropolitan Police believe they have in the case of Alexander Petrov and Rusian Boshirov, the two Russian nationals <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/sep/05/planes-trains-and-fake-names-the-trail-left-by-skripal-suspects">accused of</a> the poisoning of Russian emigre and former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury last March.</p>
<p>On September 5, the police released details of a trip to the UK by the pair between March 2 and 4, the period when the Skripals were poisoned. They provided details of CCTV footage of the pair arriving in Salisbury, and walking in the vicinity of what is thought to be the scene of the poisoning at the time it happened.</p>
<p>This week, in a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku8OQNyI2i0">25-minute interview</a> with Russian state broadcaster RT, conducted by the editor-in-chief, Margarita Simonovna Simonyan – widely regarded as a close ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin – the pair insisted they were innocent tourists who worked in the sports nutrition business. They claim they simply travelled to London, and fitted in a couple of day trips to Salisbury.</p>
<p>I work in the department of psychology at the University of Portsmouth and my principal research is into deception and the detection of deception. In this capacity I have worked closely with the police. My colleagues and I at the university have <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1015332606792">conducted research</a> into lies where the stakes are very high – this generally involves suspects in police interviews accused of serious crimes and our findings generally reflected those of <a href="https://researchportal.port.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/detecting-lies-and-deceit-pitfalls-and-opportunities(e4cfc3f0-0b5b-451f-8f5c-348037fddf8d)/export.html">laboratory studies</a>. </p>
<p>We’ve found that different people react in vastly different ways when being questioned. These differences can occur between cultures and within cultures. Our experience when interviewing Russian participants in experiments is that they generally show less animation, facially and bodily, than British participants. Also, clever liars rarely tell a completely fabricated story, but instead tend to embed lies in an otherwise truthful account. On the other hand, someone who is telling the truth about key elements of their story, might still want to hide other elements.</p>
<h2>Body language</h2>
<p>For Petrov and Boshirov the interview has very high stakes – and throughout the interview they both appear very anxious and uncomfortable. At one point, the interviewer Simonyan even points out that they are sweating and turns up the air conditioning. </p>
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<p>For the most part they appear to be keeping their hands under the desk. Many people associate fidgeting with deception – despite deception research consistently showing that liars actually tend to be <a href="https://researchportal.port.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/detecting-lies-and-deceit-pitfalls-and-opportunities(e4cfc3f0-0b5b-451f-8f5c-348037fddf8d)/export.html">less animated than truth tellers</a>. Lying requires extra mental effort, which in turn results in a neglect of body language. Liars also tend to restrict their non-verbal behaviour, since they – like many other people – wrongly believe that fidgeting is associated with mendacity. But the fact that these men to a large extent hide their hands under the desk might suggest that they are seeking to give an impression of calmness. </p>
<p>It’s also important to note that the behaviour of an interviewer will often have an effect on the behaviour of interviewees. You may have noticed that in conversation your body language may end up mirroring that of your conversation partner and vice versa.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236448/original/file-20180914-177950-7cntwh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236448/original/file-20180914-177950-7cntwh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236448/original/file-20180914-177950-7cntwh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236448/original/file-20180914-177950-7cntwh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236448/original/file-20180914-177950-7cntwh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=622&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236448/original/file-20180914-177950-7cntwh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=622&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236448/original/file-20180914-177950-7cntwh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=622&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The two Russians claim they were in Salisbury to see the ‘world famous’ cathedral and 123-metre spire.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SalisburyCathedral-wyrdlight-EastExt.jpg">Antony McCallum, WyrdLight.com</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Either way, the only fact that can be established from the body language and demeanour of the pair in this interview is that they are worried. No more than that. For this reason, deception researchers have moved on from studying non-verbal behaviour in individuals.</p>
<p>Typically, in a police scenario, if more than one person is suspected of being involved in a crime, the suspects are split up and interviewed individually. The RT interview is different in that it is not a police interview – the questioning style differs quite substantially, and they are being interviewed together.</p>
<p>My Portsmouth colleague <a href="http://www2.port.ac.uk/department-of-psychology/staff/zarah-vernham.html">Zarah Vernham</a> has <a href="http://www.research.lancs.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/collective-interviewing-of-suspects(fb05a85f-bbb5-44db-8c56-b3d9fd7e3469)/export.html">conducted research</a> into how truth tellers and liars behave when interviewed in pairs. She found that truth tellers tend to be more inclined to look at each other and add to each other’s stories or interrupt each other. Liars, meanwhile, tend to focus more on maintaining eye contact (it is also <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13218719.2013.791218">a myth</a> that a liar cannot maintain eye contact) with the interviewer, with one as the main story teller and the other in a more subordinate role. Petrov and Boshirov both contribute to the dialogue and do on occasion interrupt or add to each other’s speech.</p>
<h2>You couldn’t make it up</h2>
<p>Truth tellers are more likely to include complications in their stories. This is largely because it might not occur to liars to do so. Complications happen in life (calling to mind the expression “you just couldn’t make it up”) and a truth teller will experience such complications.</p>
<p>Of course, all the above discussed research is published and available on the internet. It is therefore possible that Petrov and Boshirov could have studied this or been coached ahead of their appearance. </p>
<p>Did Petrov and Boshirov lie in their RT interview? Plenty of apparent contradictions to their story <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-45509697">have emerged independently</a> to suggest they may not have been telling the truth. But body language or facial expressions alone cannot be conclusive.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/103262/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Samantha Mann receives funding from the Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats.</span></em></p>‘For Petrov and Boshirov the interview has very high stakes – and throughout the interview they both appear very anxious and uncomfortable.’Samantha Mann, Senior Research Fellow, Department of Psychology, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/997932018-07-13T09:35:06Z2018-07-13T09:35:06ZAbility to fake pain and other emotions may be the evolutionary origin of speech – new research<p>We’ve seen fantastic football from the likes of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neymar">Neymar Jr</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kylian_Mbapp%C3%A9">Kylian Mbappé</a> at this year’s World Cup, but they’ve also treated us to an unhealthy dose of play-acting and football con artistry. Quadruple rolls brought on at times by a mere Siberian breeze, often accompanied by devious squeals, were simply designed to deceive the referee into brandishing a colourful card or awarding a dangerous free kick. </p>
<p>While we all want to see such behaviour kicked out of the beautiful game, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09524622.2018.1463295?scroll=top&needAccess=true">new research</a> shows that the vocal aspect of faking pain – both on and off the football pitch – has evolutionary roots that may help explain how speech evolved.</p>
<p>Genuine pain causes both human infants and nonhuman mammals to produce cries, which are highly effective at <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-its-so-hard-to-ignore-a-babys-cry-according-to-science-63245">engaging caregivers to respond</a> and assist. Louder, longer and, in particular, rougher (think <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hOwKmPzoj0">white noise</a>) cries indicate greater pain. These are therefore harder to ignore, provoking more urgent responses. Interestingly, pitch doesn’t increase gradually with rising levels of pain in human infants. Instead, the pitch tends to increase rather abruptly after a threshold of high pain has been reached.</p>
<p>From stubbing toes to childbirth, adults cry out in pain too. But understanding these anguished noises in a scientific way isn’t easy – gone are the days where giving participants electric shocks are easily justified in the name of research. We do however know that midwives can judge the stage of labour a woman is at <a href="https://obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1479-828X.1993.tb02115.x">from her vocalisations during childbirth</a>. This suggests that adult pain cries also communicate useful information about the intensity of pain experienced.</p>
<p>But the voice functions as more than just a transparent window into a person’s pain level. Our brains process pain differently depending on context, mood and attention. For example, our pain response may be exacerbated if anxiously anticipating an imminent injection.</p>
<h2>Faking it in the lab</h2>
<p>Anecdotal evidence suggests that we can deliberately exaggerate, minimise and fake pain to serve our own needs. All of us have made a bigger song and dance over an injury than we needed to at some stage in our lives, just as we’ve stifled outbursts in embarrassing or formal situations. We’ve also watched actors writhing in pain we know full well doesn’t exist, yet helplessly squirmed and empathised anyway.</p>
<p>But until now nobody has scientifically investigated to what extent we can convincingly modulate and fake responses to pain. In our latest <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09524622.2018.1463295?scroll=top&needAccess=true">study</a>, published in Bioacoustics, we recruited 60 trainee actors to express three levels of increasing pain. We also asked 64 listeners to rate how much pain each vocalisation conveyed. We then investigated which aspects of their voices the actors manipulated – and how this influenced listeners.</p>
<p>In the complete absence of pain, we found that the actors used their voices to communicate pain intensity in a highly similar fashion to human infants. We found that they were indeed highly successful at manipulating listeners’ pain ratings, so it seems we really are quite skilled at faking pain.</p>
<h2>Evolutionary meaning</h2>
<p>For our ancestors, navigating an environment with danger at every turn, this ability to convincingly simulate or exaggerate pain – and, crucially, elicit more urgent aid – may have provided a vital survival advantage. Initially, our ancestors’ vocal repertoire consisted only of automatic responses to environmental triggers, which solely functioned to communicate information that affected their chances of survival or reproductive success. For example, threat elicits roars, <a href="https://theconversation.com/humans-roar-now-we-know-why-99049">which advertise fighting ability</a> – allowing individuals to compete for resources without needing to engage in costly combat.</p>
<p>It may seem that such information must remain honest to prevent a communicative system from breaking down. What’s the point of paying attention to a vocalisation if you can’t trust its content? But, in the context of the need to survive, there are great potential costs to ignoring a vocalisation whose honesty is questionable. After all, if someone nearby <em>is</em> in pain, then you could soon be too if you don’t err on the side of caution. Under these circumstances, vocal exaggeration and deception strategies can take advantage of the high stakes and flourish.</p>
<p>This vocal trickery was likely to have been a <a href="http://www.kasiapisanski.com/research/Home_files/Pisanski%20et%20al%202016%20-%20TiCS%20Voice%20Modulation.pdf">key step</a> in our progression from primitive nonverbal noises to complex, controlled speech. Developing the ability to produce and modulate pain cries and other vocalisations at will represents a watershed moment – after which point the voice became not just an honest window into a vocaliser’s attributes, but a social tool with which to influence others.</p>
<p>Eventually, our vocal control would have become sufficiently advanced to allow us to produce new, arbitrary sounds, whose structure and meaning we agreed on culturally, rather than being determined by our physiology and evolutionary processes. Or in other words: the first words.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227181/original/file-20180711-27039-1ntrfob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227181/original/file-20180711-27039-1ntrfob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227181/original/file-20180711-27039-1ntrfob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227181/original/file-20180711-27039-1ntrfob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227181/original/file-20180711-27039-1ntrfob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227181/original/file-20180711-27039-1ntrfob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227181/original/file-20180711-27039-1ntrfob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Crested capuchin monkeys can deceive with their voice.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">wikipedia</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some nonhuman mammals are further down the road to speech than you might think. Many are able to <a href="https://theconversation.com/humans-roar-now-we-know-why-99049">exaggerate</a> their body size when producing aggressive vocalisations, and <a href="http://www.kasiapisanski.com/research/Home_files/Pisanski%20et%20al%202016%20-%20TiCS%20Voice%20Modulation.pdf">recent evidence</a> indicates that great apes are capable of greater vocal control than previously assumed. Some mammals even have a few vocal deception strategies up their sleeve. Take the capuchin monkey for example, which can produce deceptive alarm calls that are acoustically indistinguishable from genuine alarm calls elicited by predators.</p>
<p>But this vocal “cheating” is not without risk – the costs of losing the trust of group members through providing dodgy information can quickly leave one fending for oneself. So while deception may have been a fundamental factor in creating the vibrant and varied communicative tools we possess today, it must be handled with care. </p>
<p>While Neymar was able feign pain and pull the wool over the referee’s eyes a few times, eventually reputation preceded him in his team’s hour of need – as Brazil found out against Belgium. Sometimes, deception can even be deadly – just ask the boy who cried wolf.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/99793/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jordan Raine does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Vocal deception may have played a key role in our progression from primitive nonverbal noises to complex, controlled speech.Jordan Raine, PhD Researcher, Nature and Function of Human Nonverbal Vocalisations, University of SussexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/913862018-02-15T11:36:17Z2018-02-15T11:36:17ZWriting’s power to deceive<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206250/original/file-20180213-44663-16qrmwg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Even common knowledge isn't immune.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/george-washington-stylized-portrait-ascii-art-576566665?src=ZrywcJz64XoFNuNgPGxyFw-1-4">ledokolua/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When I was researching and writing my new book, “<a href="http://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=28810">The Gist of Reading</a>,” I wanted to explore long-held assumptions about reading and how we process what we read.</p>
<p>Some of these assumptions have changed through time. For example, as novels became popular in the 18th century, <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Women_s_Reading_in_Britain_1750_1835.html?id=4BaREJtu3c0C">many warned that they were dangerous</a> and had the potential to cultivate ignorance and immorality in readers, especially female ones.</p>
<p>Today, many would consider that view antiquated. People probably think that reading a narrative – fiction or otherwise – might be able to influence a reader’s opinions or personal beliefs. But their prior knowledge of real-world facts should be safe.</p>
<p>For example, readers might read a story in which a character mentions in passing that Hillary Clinton, rather than Donald Trump, won the 2016 election. This shouldn’t influence readers’ ability to quickly respond that Trump was the real winner, right? </p>
<p>And yet I came across a substantial amount of psychology work that has demonstrated how reading stories – both nonfiction and fiction – has a powerful ability to distort readers’ prior knowledge. </p>
<h2>Did George Washington really become president?</h2>
<p>In psychologist Richard Gerrig’s 1989 study “<a href="https://ac-els-cdn-com.ezp2.lib.umn.edu/0749596X89900016/1-s2.0-0749596X89900016-main.pdf?_tid=255938fe-0cef-11e8-87b9-00000aacb35f&acdnat=1518108370_46479f4313d4dfb34fbec1cf9b6ea62e">Suspense in the Absence of Uncertainty</a>,” Gerrig developed short, nonfictional narratives about well-known events, such as the election of George Washington as president of the United States, that he gave to participants.</p>
<p>Some participants read a version of the narrative that foregrounded facts that made it doubtful Washington would become the president; others read a narrative that made his presidency seem likely.</p>
<p>Readers who read the doubtful version took longer to verify that he had indeed become president (or to recognize that a sentence denying that he had become president was not true). </p>
<p>Even though they knew Washington eventually became president, simply reading a very short narrative had enough power to make readers significantly less sure of what they already knew.</p>
<p>While Gerrig’s experiment presented readers with nonfictional stories about real events, <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org.ezp1.lib.umn.edu/fulltext/2012-13121-001.pdf">another study</a> demonstrated that reading a short fictional story containing falsehoods presented as facts can make readers more likely to treat them as facts, even if readers have previously shown that they know the truth.</p>
<p>In the study, participants took an online survey that quizzed them on their world knowledge – for example, identifying the world’s largest ocean (the Pacific) – and then had them rate how confident they were in their answer. </p>
<p>Two weeks later, the same participants read two fictional stories and were warned that these stories might contain some false information. The stories actually contained inaccurate versions of the very facts that the readers had been tested on two weeks earlier. For example, in one story, a character (incorrectly) mentioned, in passing, that the Indian Ocean was the world’s largest.</p>
<p>After reading the stories, the participants took the same world knowledge test they had taken two weeks earlier. The inaccurate information turned out to have a serious effect: Readers did worse on the world knowledge test after reading the stories than they had done two weeks before. In particular, questions they had gotten right two weeks earlier they now got wrong – even for the questions that they had answered most confidently on the earlier test.</p>
<p>And remember: All of this happened despite the fact that readers had been explicitly told that the stories would contain inaccurate information. </p>
<h2>Pushing back against misinformation</h2>
<p>Given our struggle to discern misinformation from fiction, psychologists have been interested in exploring how it to combat it. It seems especially vital to develop strategies that make people smarter about what they are gleaning from what they read, and to encourage ways to become more skeptical. </p>
<p>In a <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0963721416649347">2016 article</a>,
psychologist David N. Rapp outlines how to defeat, or at least reduce, the misinformation effect. </p>
<p>Rapp describes four key strategies that have proven especially effective.</p>
<p>First, when readers actively tag information as accurate or inaccurate while they read, inaccuracies lose much of their effect. It’s not enough to know that something you read is incorrect: Unless you actively tag it as wrong while reading it, you may suffer the misinformation effect. </p>
<p>Second, the further removed fiction is from everyday reality, the less vulnerable readers are to believe false facts that may be embedded in it. Rapp and his colleagues found that misinformation in fantasy stories had much less effect on readers’ knowledge than misinformation in more realistic stories. Rapp argues that this could mean readers are able to compartmentalize their response to fiction. Fantasy stories like “<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=j2uGDAAAQBAJ&dq=%22The+HObbit%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj5nJbVyKPZAhVijK0KHUePBzgQ6AEIJzAA">The Hobbit</a>” probably have less of an ability to alter real-world knowledge than, say, a piece of historical fiction, like Philippa Gregory’s “<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=hPmaiE1da_QC&lpg=PP1&dq=%22The%20Other%20Boleyn%20Girl%22&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false">The Other Boleyn Girl</a>,” which is grounded in historical events but nonetheless riddled with historical inaccuracies. </p>
<p>Third, Rapp found that some inaccuracies are so flagrant that readers do notice them. They may be persuaded that St. Petersburg, rather than Moscow, is the capital of Russia. But it’s much harder to persuade them that Russia’s capital is Brasilia. Brasilia is just too different from anything that readers associate with Russia to make it a convincing capital. </p>
<p>Finally – and perhaps most importantly in today’s climate of “fake news” – readers may be sensitive to the authority of a source. False facts from a generally credible source seem to have more effect than false facts from a disreputable one. The challenge, of course, is that what counts as a credible source to one reader may count as the opposite to another reader. </p>
<p>I find all these psychological experiments telling precisely because they generally avoid having participants read about hot-button issues that may make them feel defensive or partisan. </p>
<p>The traditional suspicion of fiction arose from its ability to excite and engage. Yet the materials in these experiments are comparatively dry – and the fictional information was nonetheless able to cast a spell on the reader.</p>
<p>In other words, even without emotional appeals, by warping the most neutral of facts, readers can easily be persuaded to question or even reverse what they already know. </p>
<p>Such work underscores more than ever that suspicion of reading is not entirely ungrounded. Today, not only is the internet filled with dubious information but there are also deliberate attempts to spread misinformation via social media channels. In this era of “fake news,” scrutinizing the sources of our knowledge has become more critical than ever.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91386/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Elfenbein does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Reading something that sows doubt about a widely agreed-upon fact – even the election of George Washington as president – can have a profound effect.Andrew Elfenbein, Professor of English, University of MinnesotaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.