Lies! Lies!! Lies!!!: The Psychology of Deceit

The Psychology of Deceit

Author: Charles V. Ford

Who lies? Not just children, politicians, advertisers, and salespeople. Our co-workers lie. Our friends lie. Our relatives lie. And we lie to them. Everybody lies.

We learn to lie and to detect deceit as a developmental task. Dr. Ford's concept is that lying is part of the bridge between one's internal world (beliefs, perceptions, expectations, fantasies) and one's external world (reality). Lies work not only to deceive others but to deceive ourselves.

This book shines a spotlight on an understudied phenomenon that affects us all as we raise children, choose a relationship, move forward with a career path, or buy a used car.

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Summary

Who lies? Not just children, politicians, advertisers, and salespeople. Our co-workers lie. Our friends lie. Our relatives lie. And we lie to them. Everybody lies.

This book shines a spotlight on an understudied phenomenon that affects us all as we raise children, choose a relationship, move forward with a career path, or buy a used car.

Description

Lies! Lies!! Lies!!! The Psychology of Deceit looks beyond compulsive liars in our society and considers the ongoing flood of lies that we as human beings experience every day.

Who lies? Not just children, politicians, advertisers, and salespeople. Our co-workers lie. Our friends lie. Our relatives lie. And we lie to them. Everybody lies.

We learn to lie and to detect deceit as a developmental task. Dr. Ford's philosophy is that lying is part of the bridge between one's internal world (beliefs, perceptions, expectations, fantasies) and one's external world (reality). Lies work not only to deceive others but to deceive ourselves.

This book shines a spotlight on an understudied phenomenon that affects us all as we raise children, choose a relationship, move forward with a career path, or buy a used car.

Critic Reviews

“"To say that Dr. Ford's book about lying is provocative would be far from stretching the truth. This is a challenging but nourishing book, to be read and debated with friends, relatives, and others."- Healthline”

This book is an extraordinary, well-written treatise on deception and self-deception. It is provocative and important because it captures the width and breadth of an ever-present part of human conditions -- lying. Psychiatric Times To say that Dr. Ford's book about lying is provocative would be far from stretching the truth. This is a challenging but nourishing book, to be read and debated with friends, relatives, and others. Healthline Dr. Ford integrates his vast material to produce a coherent view on the intrapsychic functions of deceit, especially the regulation of self-esteem, and to delineate the complex interrelation of lying and self-deception. He has succeeded in a wonderful task: writing a book that provides fascinating and practical insights for the psychiatrist, as well as a scholarly work that will appeal to any intelligent reader interested in the subject. Washington Psychiatry

About the Author

Charles V. Ford, M.D., is Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology, at the School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is the author or co-author of five books and approximately 100 published papers and invited chapters that focus primarily on issues of illness behavior, psychotherapy, the interface between medicine and psychiatry, and disease simulation. His scientific interest in deception began as a result of his contact with psychiatric and medical patients diagnosed as compulsive liars. Through his work he learned what little scientific information there was on the subject.