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18 - Ontogeny of Tactical Deception

from Part V - Evolution and Cognition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 March 2020

By
Peter J. LaFreniere  and
Rachelle M. Smith
Edited by
Lance Workman ,
Will Reader  and
Jerome H. Barkow
Lance Workman
Affiliation:
University of South Wales
Will Reader
Affiliation:
Sheffield Hallam University
Jerome H. Barkow
Affiliation:
Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia
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Summary

Years ago, we began a research program in the development of deliberate tactical deception because we felt that deception was central to the evolution of human social intelligence. We were also convinced that it was central to a successful social life in the modern era, particularly the ability to unmask deception masquerading as benevolence or cooperation. This is the pith of the Machiavellian Hypothesis that came to the forefront of evolutionary thinking in the 1980s (e.g., Byrne & Whiten, 1988; Humphrey, 1976). Now, 40 years later, we review the empirical case for its progressive development in children.

We view this essential question regarding the ontogeny of deception within a broader framework of interrelated questions. In his influential paper, “On the Aims and Methods of Ethology” (1963), Tinbergen gave the discipline of ethology a strong and enduring paradigm.

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Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Behavior , pp. 225 - 232
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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