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The evolution of deception

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Abstract

Deception has evolved under natural selection, as has the capacity to detect deceit. In this article, we describe the adaptive significance of deception in plants, fireflies, octopi, chimpanzees, andHomo sapiens. We review behavior genetic research to find that heredity affects human deceptiveness and theorize that genetically-transmitted anatomical features prefigure human success at deceit.

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Bond, C.F., Robinson, M. The evolution of deception. J Nonverbal Behav 12, 295–307 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00987597

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