377. The Art of Cheating and Deception feat. Dr. Lixing Sun

What’s the difference between a lie and deception? How does cheating show up in nature? And is it always a negative thing? 

Dr. Lixing Sun is a professor of animal behavior, ecology, and evolution at Central Washington University. His books, The Liars of Nature and the Nature of Liars: Cheating and Deception in the Living World and The Fairness Instinct: The Robin Hood Mentality and Our Biological Nature explore the idea that not everything is as it seems in this world, and seek to answer the question of why? 

He and Greg discuss the differences between lying and deceiving, examples of where you can find cheating in nature, and why humans have gotten so good at cheating and deception. 

*unSILOed Podcast is produced by University FM.*

Episode Quotes:

The substantial reality of female cheating

39:34: Recently, studies show that female cheating actually is substantial, and there are lots of benefits associated with that. In my book, I talk a little bit about it, but now there is more to know why cheating is a good strategy among female animals, including humans. Data do not lie, especially about us. I have this data that's from studies; for men, 22 to 25% in their lifetime, they do cheat. And women, 11% to 15% cheat in their lifetimes as well. So, it's quite substantial.

Self-deception in cheating

09:20: Self-deception is for better cheating because when your consciousness is shut down, you can cheat fluently without finding any conflict.

Cheating without conscious thought

16:47: So as to how or why you don't need a brain to cheat, that's relatively simple because, as long as you have a niche—the ecological niche or, no matter what economical niche—the organisms can always take advantage of it. Basically, you have a niche and this adaptive evolution to fit the niche, to take advantage of it. So that's the evolutionary process. It did not require conscious thinking, sort of like in the psychology approach; in humans, you need conscious thinking.

Lying vs. deception

33:39: Lying is referring to communication. A boy crying wolf is lying because he is sending the wrong information to take advantage of being killed by others. So, that is lying. He should say there's no wolf when he cries for a wolf. He is lying because there's no wolf. That's the reality; that's communication. Deception is different. Deception is not necessarily communication, but deception is a take advantage of our cognitive bias.

Show Links:

Recommended Resources:

• John Maynard Smith
• Cuckoo bird
• Kingsnake
• Coral snake
• Henry Walter Bates
• Viceroy butterfly
• Monarch butterfly
• Randy Thornhill
• Bernie Madoff
• Frank Abagnale

Guest Profile:

• Faculty Profile at Central Washington University

His Work:

• The Liars of Nature and the Nature of Liars: Cheating and Deception in the Living World
• The Fairness Instinct: The Robin Hood Mentality and Our Biological Nature

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