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The Psychology of Lying and Detecting Lies

Bella DePaulo

This book is a collection of 29 of the most popular blog posts and chapters on deception written by Dr. Bella DePaulo, one of the world’s leading experts on the psychology of lying and detecting lies. Drawing from research – much of it her own – Professor DePaulo helps us understand big-time liars as well as the more ordinary liars in our everyday lives. Want to know what science has to say about detecting deception? There are 7 short chapters on that. Another 9 chapters explore the dynamics of deceit in our interactions with our romantic partners, friends, and family. Regardless of what you think you already know about deception, you will undoubtedly learn something new and surprising from this book. CONTENTS. I. FIRST, SOME TRUTHS ABOUT LIES 1. 6 truths about lies 2. Why do people lie to you? II. PROFILES OF ORDINARY LIARS 3. Who lies? 4. Men or Who lies more? III. BIG-TIME LIARS 5. How ordinary people become extraordinary liars 6. Big-time Top 7 lies they tell themselves 7. How President Trump’s lies are different from other people’s 8. For writing about President Trump’s lies, I got called an “ugly witch” and more 9. It’s what Dexter does best (well, second best) 10. Getting suckered by a killer IV. FIGURING OUT WHEN YOU ARE GETTING DUPED 11. Looks can kill – your better judgment 12. Why are we so bad at detecting lies? 13. How body language lets us down 14. Unconscious, gut-level lie detection? 15. Can’t keep your story Maybe not such a great cue to deception after all 16. If you watch ‘Lie to Me,’ will you become more successful at detecting lies? 17. Suppose you could know exactly what other people were thinking and Would you want to? V. LYING AND DETECTING LIES IN RELATIONSHIPS (AND NOT JUST ROMANTIC ONES) 18. Do relationships need lies to survive? 19. Who are the real cheaters? 20. Spotting a How long do you have to know a person before you can do it accurately? 21. Manti Te’o and the revenge of the romantic fantasy 22. When you are the last to know you’ve been duped 23. Friends and Is there a ‘knew it all along’ effect? 24. What friends know that others don’t 25. The power and peril of hurt feelings VI. LYING AND DETECTING LIES IN SPECIAL CONTEXTS 26. Do audio-only press briefings make it easier to mislead? 27. Airport screening post-9/11 – what happens before you even get to any of the machines 28. Can a computer tell when you are lying? 29. Accused of doing something awful? Here’s how to convince others of your innocence

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