Paternalistic deception

Paternalistic deception is a type of deception that is apparently performed for the deceived individual's own good by a person assuming a paternalistic role, whether they are their actual parent or not.[1] The most used form of paternalistic deception are paternalist lies.[2] They are told by an individual, a group or an institution with the intent of benefitting the target lied to by sparing their feelings or preventing them from experiencing psychological harm.[3] As they are justified by the assumption that they are in the target’s best interest, they are a subset of prosocial lies.[4] They can occur though omissions, half-truths or white lies.[2] Paternalistic lies can be manipulative,[5] however their key feature involves the interference with the target’s autonomy.[5] This is induced by denying them access to accurate information[6] and by limiting their behaviour choices.[5] Confrontations with paternalistic lies can begin from early childhood on and continue throughout an individual’s life.[2]

Issues

Paternalistic lies are rooted in subjective assumptions, which can solely predict the target’s preferences.[4] Several studies show that targets judge paternalistic lies harshly, because they perceive their autonomy to have been violated.[4] The underlying reason is the belief in the right to know the truth.[4] Instead targets see paternalistic lies as an attempt to influence or coerce them, as they may not have chosen the outcome for themselves[4] or to impose an assumed superior framework of the world to the reality shaped by the truth. The lie-teller always overestimates beneficial aspects and minimize the potential harm of the lie, resulting in a more favourable attitude.[4] Targets however end up questioning the underlying benevolent intentions of the lie-teller, because of the liars’ subjective judgements and the consequent interference with their autonomy.[4]

Moreover, if the deceived individual discovers they have been lied to it can induce emotional responses such as mild disappointment, hurt, anger or complete betrayal.[6] Since paternalistic liars are perceived as inaccurately predicting target’s preferences, this can lead to reactance such as the derogation of the deceiver or a decrease in the outcomes’ attractiveness due to the nature of it being a lie.[4] The target can shift their preferences, as the process of being lied to becomes more important than the outcome itself.[4]

The responses to lies are dependent on the desirability of outcomes and the perceived fairness by which those outcomes are obtained. If outcomes are desirable, targets will respond favourably regardless of the fairness in the process involved.[4] However, if the outcome is undesirable, their response will account for the unfairness in the outcome’s process.[4] Since paternalistic lies are not objectively desirable compared to honesty, the targets will be less satisfied with the resulting outcome than when the same outcome is obtained via honesty.[4]

Risks

Lie-tellers are also affected by the lie. They establish an ego-protective mechanism that generates a normalization belief through comparison to equally blameworthy activities by others to try and minimize their self-discrepancy.[7] This can be traced back to the conflict between internal values, such as protecting loved ones, and social norms around truth-telling.[7]

Besides, studies have shown that people that have been intensely or often lied to tend to increase their own frequency of deception.[8] This finding is in line with the negative reciprocity norm, as it involve a set of beliefs favouring retribution as a counteract to being unfavourably treated.[8] This implies that people tend to equally reciprocate when receiving negative treatment.[8]

Occurrence

Parenting

Parents are the key figures children rely on in their developmental years.[2] They represent their role models, which greatly influence and ground their social learning.[9] Numerous studies indicate that paternalistic lies are commonly used by parents to control emotions and influence behaviour of their children. This has been found to occur cross-culturally.[10] Tzeltal-speaking Mayans, a tribe living in a rural community in South Mexico, frequently lie to their children.[11] They do not consider these lies as morally problematic and furthermore encourage their children to adopt the same practice.[11] Nonetheless, even within societies, where honesty is promoted as a social value, parents lie to their children at times, creating an honesty paradox.[2] A study conducted in China and the US showed that all parents resorted to paternalistic lies, but collectivist cultures appear to have a greater acceptance of lie usage, as their main concern is social cohesiveness with an emphasis on respect and obedience.[10] However, other findings revealed that paternalistic lies negatively influence the parent-child relationship through distrust.[2] Furthermore, a negative correlation has been observed between the perceived frequency of lies told and parental involvement, autonomy support, and warmth.[2]

Healthcare

Paternalistic lies can sometimes also be used in physician-patient relationship provoking some controversy. Doctors might give a patients an overly optimistic prognoses in order to provide hope[4] or they occasionally use placebos on patients to prevent them feeling disappointed if no alternative cure option is available.[12] These practices question the ethics behind them.[13] Potential problems that can arise are:

  • patients’ deception, which can later induce negative repercussions after finding out about the lie[14]
  • patient’s autonomy being threatened[15]
  • the potential damage to the crucial trust between physician and patient[15]

References
  1. Gert, Bernard; Culver, Charles M. (1976). "Paternalistic Behavior". Philosophy & Public Affairs. 6 (1): 45–57. ISSN 0048-3915.
  2. Cargill, Joscelyn R.; Curtis, Drew A. (2017). "Parental Deception: Perceived Effects on Parent-Child Relationships". Journal of Relationships Research. 8: e1. doi:10.1017/jrr.2017.1. ISSN 1838-0956.
  3. "Is It Always Wrong to Lie?". www.psychologytoday.com. Retrieved 2023-03-28.
  4. Lupoli, Matthew J.; Levine, Emma E.; Greenberg, Adam Eric (2018-05-01). "Paternalistic lies". Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. 146: 31–50. doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2018.01.001. ISSN 0749-5978.
  5. Stokke, Andreas, "Paternalistic lying and deception", The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Paternalism, doi:10.4324/9781315657080-21, retrieved 2023-03-28
  6. Wackenhut, Joyce (1987). Social Deception in Everyday Life. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing. ISBN 9798206050318.
  7. Sagarin, Brad J.; Rhoads, Kelton v. L.; Cialdini, Robert B. (November 1998). "Deceiver's Distrust: Denigration as a Consequence of Undiscovered Deception". Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 24 (11): 1167–1176. doi:10.1177/01461672982411004. ISSN 0146-1672.
  8. Tyler, James M.; Feldman, Robert S.; Reichert, Andreas (2006-01-01). "The price of deceptive behavior: Disliking and lying to people who lie to us". Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 42 (1): 69–77. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2005.02.003. ISSN 0022-1031.
  9. Ceka, Ardita; Murati, Rabije (2016). "The Role of Parents in the Education of Children" (PDF). Journal of Education and Practice. 7 (5): 61–64.
  10. Heyman, Gail D.; Hsu, Anna S.; Fu, Genyue; Lee, Kang (December 2013). "Instrumental lying by parents in the US and China". International Journal of Psychology. 48 (6): 1176–1184. doi:10.1080/00207594.2012.746463. ISSN 0020-7594. PMC 8063349. PMID 23173801.
  11. Heyman, Gail D.; Luu, Diem H.; Lee, Kang (2009-09-01). "Parenting by lying". Journal of Moral Education. 38 (3): 353–369. doi:10.1080/03057240903101630. ISSN 0305-7240. PMC 2949975. PMID 20930948.
  12. Foddy, Bennett (2009-12-14). "A Duty to Deceive: Placebos in Clinical Practice". The American Journal of Bioethics. 9 (12): 4–12. doi:10.1080/15265160903318350. ISSN 1526-5161.
  13. Berger, Jeffrey (2009-12-14). "Paternalistic Assumptions and a Purported Duty to Deceive". The American Journal of Bioethics. 9 (12): 20–21. doi:10.1080/15265160903234086. ISSN 1526-5161. PMID 20013489.
  14. Jauhar, Sandeep (2014-02-22). "Opinion | When Doctors Need to Lie". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-03-28.
  15. Rorty, Mary V.; Frankel, Lorry R. (2009-12-14). "The Paradoxical Placebo". The American Journal of Bioethics. 9 (12): 17–20. doi:10.1080/15265160903242733. ISSN 1526-5161. PMID 20013488.

Further reading
  • Carson, Thomas (2010). Lying and Deception: Theory and Practice. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199577415.
  • Sartorius, Rolf (1984). Paternalism. University Of Minnesota Press. ISBN 9780816611744.


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