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Deception as cause or consequence of language?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 May 2011

R. I. M. Dunbar
R. I. M. Dunbar
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3BX, United Kingdom, rlmd@liverpool.ac.uk
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Abstract

It is suggested that language evolved to enable ancestral humans to use deception to manipulate each other rather than simply for the exchange of social information. I argue that any such usage must have been a byproduct of language evolution rather than the principal selection pressure.

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Author's Response
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Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 19 , Special Issue 3 , September 1996 , pp. 548
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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