ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned itself with deception in the social and behavioral sciences and with social science perspectives on conditions that elicit deceptive behavior among scientists, whatever their discipline. The central line of demarcation, then, between fallible judgment in the misconstruing of scientific evidence on the one hand and out-and-out fraud on the other may inhere in the conscious intention to deceive. Deception by misrepresentation of one's identity or accomplishments or of the products of one's activity are but the most obvious varieties of deception that can be perpetrated in the social and behavioral sciences. The four dimensions of deceptive behavior are the matter of intent to harm, the question of reward, the issue of who or what constitutes the target or victim of the deceptive behavior and the question of whether the deceptive behavior involves an act of commission or omission.
