What Is Deception? What Is Military Deception?

DECEPTION All warfare is based upon deception. Deception, the employment of trickery or guile, is equal parts art and science. It is typically defined as " causing another to believe what is not true; to mislead or ensnare " (Webster's, 1999). Deception aims to deliberately induce misperception in another. Deception is a deliberate enterprise; it is not the result of chance, nor the by-product of another endeavor (McCleskey, 1991). Whaley (1982, p. 188) has defined deception as " information designed to manipulate the behavior of others by inducing them to accept a false or distorted presentation of their environment—physical, social, or political. " It is ubiquitous and enduring in human affairs, and equally prevalent in the predator-prey relationships of the plant and animal kingdoms. Note that while we define human deception as requiring deliberation , this is not the case in the animal or plant kingdoms. Rather than ascribe intentions to other species, we shall simply aver that deception in animals and plants is any act or instrument whereby an individual organism induces a misperception in another. Deceptions may therefore include the lure of the angler fish; the brood mimicry of the cuckoo's egg; the diverting eyespots of the moth's wing; the camouflage of the trapdoor spider's ambush; and the feigned injury of the parent duck.