This book is about deception. It does not cover all forms of deception but focuses on one particular aspect that I refer to as cognitive deception. In this type of deception you are not fooled by some clever sleight of hand. In fact, these cognitive deceptions have been referred to rather as sleights of mind. With cognitive deceptions you are not led into error by some failure or misdirection of your sensory apparatus. In contrast, cognitive deceptions are purposely induced failures of attention, memory, and decision-making capacities. In general, the issue is set before you in a relatively clear and unambiguous manner, and unlike single, one-off events, cognitive deceptions are, by and large, on permanent display. The physical evidence is, in most cases, right in front of you and can be examined repeatedly and even subjected to physical tests and evaluation. These artifacts do not disappear when any particularly skeptical inquisitor approaches. They do not suffer from any sort of Taylor’s so-called shyness effects. The objects and entities discussed here do not vanish when a camera or even a mass spectrometer approaches them. Yet important aspects of cognition are involved that induce people into accepting the deception, sometimes even in spite of the results of physical experimentation and examination.

I have framed the present book around a number of stories. Each of the examples discussed exposes different facets of cognitive deception. However, at heart, they have a great deal in common. It is these common elements that form the basis of my discussion of the psychology of cognitive deception, the explorations of which are interpolated between the respective stories. Although each example provides an intriguing case on its own and can be read as an individual study in potential hoax and deception, the purpose here is to take the respective lessons and to weld them into a unified theory of cognitive deception. It is my eventual hope to elaborate that theory beyond cognitive deceptions alone to include other forms such as sensory illusion and motor deception, but that is for the future and not the focus of this text.