Chapter 5: Deception
Dark or Not?
Deception is a key aspect of dark psychology. Like many other dark psychological tactics, it can be difficult to tell whether any given instance of deception is dark or not. Before we explore the difference between dark and normal deception, let’s first understand exactly what deception is.
A lot of people would state the viewpoint that lying and deception are the same thing. This is inaccurate. Lying is a form of deception but is by no means the only form deception can take. Rather than thinking of deception as “lies” it is better to think of it as “misleading.” Any action or word capable of making someone believe something other than the truth can be accurately termed deception.
So what are some common manifestations of deception? Lying, omitting the truth, implying falsehood or fraudulently providing evidence for something false are all examples of deception. You will probably realize that you have done some of these things at some point yourself. Does that mean that all acts of deception are examples of dark psychology? Not at all.
Everyone deceives to some extent or another. People might deceive others for a range of reasons such as kindness, embarrassment or feelings of inadequacy. For example, studies have shown that many, even most men will lie about their height on dating websites. This does not make them practitioners of dark psychology! People even deceive themselves about a range of issues including their health, ambition, and happiness. Such regular, day-to-day examples of deception do not equate to dark deception. So what does?
Deception can be seen as dark when it is carried out with either a negative or indifferent intention toward the person being deceived. Normal deception is usually motivated by an inability to face up to the truth in one way or another. Dark deception, on the other hand, is an understanding that the truth does not serve the deceptive aims of the deceiver. Therefore, the truth is either changed, hidden, or ignored in favor of a version of events that better suits the purpose of the person deceiving.
Put simply, people who deploy dark psychology use deception to harm, not help. They help their own interests, but at any cost, regardless of who gets hurt.
Some people assume that if a deception is small scale it cannot be seen as dark, whereas larger deceptions must be inherently dark. This is not the case. By exploring the idea of the deception spectrum you will see that it is not the size of a deception that determines whether it is dark or not, rather the purpose behind the deception.
The Deception Spectrum
To understand the idea of deception it is important to understand that it can occur on either a large or a small scale. One of the main mistakes that people often make is assuming that deception is only serious if it is big and does not matter if it is small. This is a grave error. Small deceptions can be used in a powerfully dark way by skilled manipulators and are often more effective than large deceptions. Similarly, some of the largest deceptions ever carried out have been performed by deliberate manipulators to serve their own aims and objectives. Dark examples of various types of deception, large