#115: Othello Error, Paltering & Simple Rules
3 Ideas in 2 Minutes on Lying
I. Othello Error
Desdemona has been cheating on Othello. Or so the general of the Venetian army thought. When Othello confronts Desdemona in Shakespeare’s tragic play, she denies having been unfaithful and cries. Tragically, her jealous husband takes her reaction as evidence of her guilt and kills her.
When making the Othello Error we fixate on the pre-conceived notion that someone is lying and ignore any signs of truth telling. The term was coined by Paul Ekman in his 1985 book Telling Lies. He notes that “simply observing an emotion does not tell you what caused that emotion”.
II. Paltering
The next time you talk to a used car salesman or listen in on a, let’s say, senate hearing, watch out for paltering. Paltering happens when we lie by telling the truth. That is we pick and choose statements that are technically true but are in fact misleading. Take this example:
Senator: Is your teacher evaluation program effective in identifying the best teachers?
Bureaucrat: We had good feedback from schools.
Senator: Are there any studies that show that the program does what it says it does?
Bureaucrat: Teachers who apply must show that they’re the best in the classroom.
No lies detected.
III. Simple Rules
Elena Gorokhova grew up in Soviet Russia. In her memoir, she describes how she discovered the political deception surrounding her:
The rules are simple: they lie to us, we know they're lying, they know we know they're lying, but they keep lying to us, and we keep pretending to believe them.
―Elena Gorokhova, A Mountain of Crumbs
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Have a great week,
Chris
themindcollection.com