ABSTRACT
It depends. Deception is an illusive and difficult issue. As the inverse of truthtelling, deception is wrong and yet systemic in human relationships, from little white lies in social intercourse to the more capacious deception in the political arena or warfare. Studies have shown that at least one out of four conversations contains some form of deception (Buller & Burgoon, 1996; DePaulo et al., 1996). On the other hand, truthtelling is perhaps the closest to a universal value that we have. According to Mieth (1997), truth is a basic norm, although people “invoke at one moment the norm of truthfulness and at the next moment the right to lie, depending on circumstances and context” (p. 87).
