Catalogue of an exhibition held at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Oct. 13, 2002-Mar. 2, 2003.

Real Deceptions develops a new theory of realism through close consideration of myriad contemporary art, media, and cultural practices. Rather than focusing on transgressing deceptions which distort reality, the book argues that reality lies within the deceptions themselves. That is to say, realism's political potential emerges not by revealing deception but precisely by staging deceptions--particularly deceptions that imperil the very categories of true and false. In lieu of perceiving deception as an obstacle to truth, it shows how deception functions as the truth's necessary conduit. Categories invoked in realist works, such as trompe l'oeil, illusion, hypervirtuality, and simulation help to establish how realism can be seen as moving from the creation of mere epistemological uncertainty to radical ontologically-based indeterminacy. The book cultivates this schema by considering productive connections between insights from Jacques Lacan and Jacques Rancière. Real Deceptions not only applies these theoretical frameworks to art and media examples, but also engages in the reverse move of using the "cases" to further the theories. This dual approach points to the ways in which efforts to produce realist representations often give rise to the destabilizing Real.

Outgrowth of the author's thesis (Northwestern University).

"I speak the truth, not so much as I would, but as much as I dare...."-- Montaigne "All cruel people describe themselves as paragons of frankness.'" -- Tennessee Williams Truth and deception--like good and evil--have long been viewed as diametrically opposed and unreconcilable. Yet, few people can honestly claim they never lie. In fact, deception is practiced habitually in day-to-day life--from the polite compliment that doesn't accurately relay one's true feelings, to self-deception about one's own motivations. What fuels the need for people to intricately construct lies and illusions about their own lives? If deceptions are unconscious, does it mean that we are not responsible for their consequences? Why does self-deception or the need for illusion make us feel uncomfortable? Taking into account the sheer ubiquity and ordinariness of deception, this interdisciplinary work moves away from the cut-and-dried notion of duplicity as evil and illuminates the ways in which deception can also be understood as a adaptive response to the demands of living with others. The book articulates the boundaries between unethical and adaptive deception demonstrating how some lies serve socially approved goals, while others provoke distrust and condemnation. Throughout, the volume focuses on the range of emotions--from feelings of shame, fear, or envy, to those of concern and compassion--that motivate our desire to deceive ourselves and others. Providing an interdisciplinary exploration of the widespread phenomenon of lying and deception, this volume promotes a more fully integrated understanding of how people function in their everyday lives. Case illustrations, humor and wit, concrete examples, and even a mock television sitcom script bring the ideas to life for clinical practitioners, behavioral scientists, and philosophers, and for students in these realms.

Visual illusions are compelling phenomena that draw attention to the brain's capacity to construct our perceptual world. The Compendium is a collection of over 100 chapters on visual illusions, written by the illusion creators or by vision scientists who have investigated mechanisms underlying the phenomena. --

Self-deception occurs because we often see the world the way we would like it to be, rather than the way it is. Our brains so long for things the way we want them, we might not even be aware we are fooling ourselves, explains author Harry Triandis, a widely known Professor Emeritus of Psychology. Across cultures and around the world, self-deception is a phenomenon that has subtle and profound effects on everyday life, explains Triandis, also former president of the International Association of Cross-Cultural Psychology. In this work, he not only explains how and why self-deceptions occur in three areas - politics, religion, and terrorism - but also how to recognize and reduce the frequency of fooling ourselves. Insights here include consideration of personal and societal self-deceptions, as well as extensive understanding of how politics, ideologies, and religions can frame reality for each of us in such a way that it is, in our minds, warped so the stage is well-set for self-deception. This text will be of special interest to general readers drawn to politics and religion, as well as scholars of psychology, anthropology, and sociology.

Why do we need two eyes? Why are all cats grey at night and appear to move faster the day? Why is the sky blue and the setting sun red? This book explains the multifaceted nature of perception, and discusses the mysteries of vision. It provides readers with experiments to help them discover optical illusions and the features of their own perception. Illusions of Seeing begins with a discussion on the essence of light and its perception to the human eye. It presents a comprehensive overview of the basic laws of human perception as well as the fundamentals of good gestalt. Subsequent chapters discuss geometric-optical illusions; the perception of form, brightness, and translucency and their interaction with each other; ambiguous perception, color vision, spatial vision. The book ends with a discussion of the perception of motion and its interaction with color, form, and spatial depth with a full chapter devoted to illusions in our everyday life. Consider this your travel guide in the marvelous world of sight, to experience a completely individual way to understand and improve your own perception. Illusions of Seeing will be of interest to psychologists, physicists, biologists, and undergraduate and graduate students within the field of cognitive psychology.

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Americans were fascinated with fraud. P. T. Barnum artfully exploited the American yen for deception, and even Mark Twain championed it, arguing that lying was virtuous insofar as it provided the glue for all interpersonal intercourse. But deception was not used solely to delight, and many fell prey to the schemes of con men and the wiles of spirit mediums. As a result, a number of experimental psychologists set themselves the task of identifying and eliminating the illusions engendered by modern, commercial life. By the 1920s, however, many of these same psychologists had come to depend on deliberate misdirection and deceitful stimuli to support their own experiments. The Science of Deception explores this paradox, weaving together the story of deception in American commercial culture with its growing use in the discipline of psychology. Michael Pettit reveals how deception came to be something that psychologists not only studied but also employed to establish their authority. They developed a host of tools—the lie detector, psychotherapy, an array of personality tests, and more—for making deception more transparent in the courts and elsewhere. Pettit’s study illuminates the intimate connections between the scientific discipline and the marketplace during a crucial period in the development of market culture. With its broad research and engaging tales of treachery, The Science of Deception will appeal to scholars and general readers alike.