7.1: Deception Is All Around Us

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Bradley H. Dowden
California State University Sacramento

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The tuition for our university is less than for schools costing twice as much. Why do you suppose that is? I suspect it's because our university saves money by paying low salaries to their instructors who teach logic and critical thinking.

Now then, let's slow down here. That comment about tuition was a joke, and the remark about low salaries was an intentional smokescreen designed to get you to miss the joke.

Deception has been practiced in so many ways, and new ways are being created so fast by so many creative people, that we readers, consumers, voters, and potential converts have a tough time keeping our defenses up. Nevertheless, we can do it. Once we've studied some of the known techniques, it becomes much easier to spot new ones. Sometimes deception takes the form of outright lying; at other times it is practiced by telling only part of the truth; and sometimes the whole truth is presented but the problem is in how it is presented. This chapter explores obvious and subtle examples of each.

When you are considering whether to buy a product, you usually want solid information. You want to know the product's features, what is wrong with the competition's product, new ways to use the product, the real cost for you, and so forth. Not always, though. For example, don't you already have enough information about Pepsi? If you have to watch a Pepsi commercial, wouldn't you rather be entertained than informed? Do you want to know Pepsi's ratio of corn syrup to sucrose, or whatever; or would you rather have music, humor, and dancing? However, except for these special cases where you already know enough, what you do want is solid, objective, significant information. This chapter focuses on techniques of deception that are obstacles to your obtaining this information.

Exercise \(\PageIndex{1}\)

Suppose you have a gmail account and you receive an email from “Your IT Department” at “IT@gmail.com” saying you should reset your email password – and supplying you a link to the site to change it. The best response is to

a. do this because you are a nice person who wants to cooperate with the email managers even if you changed your password two days ago.
b. refuse to do this because it’s likely to be phishing, but do it if this is the second email they’ve sent you.
c. do this if you have not changed your password for over a year.
d. do nothing and move on to your next email.

Answer: Answer (d). It is too likely this is phishing.