The Truth of Faking (About the Mental Effort to be Socially Intelligent)

Faking is fashionable in the human and non-human animal world. It always was and it always will be. Without it many individuals wouldn’t survive the onslaught of their predators. And without it predators wouldn’t be able to feast on their prey.

Bluffing is an adaptive behaviour and a matter of life and death. It has evolved as an animal’s legitimate tool for self-preservation. It has been selected by evolution because it is useful for human and non-human animals alike.

Playing hide-and-seek

When the skin of a gecko almost perfectly matches the colour pattern of the tree trunk it sunbathes on, when a seahorse develops excrescences that look like algae and when a butterfly exhibits on its unfolded wings a design that resembles the eyes of an owl, then these animals display genetically ingrained faking traits that we call camouflage or mimicry.

Camouflage or mimicry is the result of a species’ successful adaptation to its natural environment. It is its defensive strategy with regard to its predators. Similarly, predator species have developed offensive strategies to mitigate the success of their preys’ tricks. This sort of military build-up on both sides has evolved from time immemorial and will be going on as long as there is no dramatic break in the delicate dynamic equilibrium of predatorprey relationships.

While these adaptive traits may be considered to be unconscious automatisms there are nonetheless many species that consciously, albeit automatically, respond to specific stimuli. This is the case, for example, when an animal permanently changes its colour pattern in response to the ongoing change of the colour pattern of the background on which it moves. This requires at least the correct perception and interpretation of the changing stimuli and a fast and precise adaptive response of the whole organism.

Playing dead:a death defying option

The voluntary and mental aspect of faking comes to the fore more clearly in the chase and in sexual activities. Certain animals can “play dead” when they realize (a mental activity, too!) that they have no chance to escape their predator.

The opossum, for example, deliberately goes into this state of suspended animation when it suddenly collapses. With a glazed look in its half-open eyes the animal is perfectly conscious and yet doesn’t budge a bit as an enemy sniffs or nibbles at it. A boa species is able to fake death while emitting a nauseating odour of putrefaction. It even squirts blood out of its mouth and eyes, an added bonus its predators don’t appreciate at all. Some ground-breeding birds try to get their enemies away from the nest when there are eggs or young in it. They may fly straight at you, then fly away again with much ado. Their goal (who said animals aren’t able to imagine a future state?): to entice you to follow them in the opposite direction of their nest. A highly artistic exploit is the “broken wing” display of, for example, the plover. It simulates attempts to fly away, lets itself tumble to the ground, tries flying again, etc. The plover is even able to distinguish between dangerous and harmless animals approaching its nest. Moreover, its strategy of enticing a potential predator away from its nest is adapted and proportional to the danger.

Cost-benefit analysis by animals

Where there is a strategy there is usually a cost-benefit analysis of possible actions to take and decisionmaking on top of it. In short, there is mental activity.

The bluffing methods to escape predation find their counterpart in the faking techniques of the predators to get the prey. The collective hunting strategy of lionesses is a good example: some of the females hide in the tall grass while one or two of them stride up to a herd of gazelles. The latter are led to believe that the danger comes from the lionesses they fully see when in fact they are being pushed, on their retreat, into an ambush. This is a low cost-high benefit strategy.

Faking beyond language

But faking is not a feature of predator- prey relationships only. It is common in social animals. Primates have been observed to profusely indulge in it. Baboons and chimps do not hesitate to distract the dominant male of a harem to allow - behind his back - other males to copulate with females of that harem. Around the age of eight human youngsters already indulge in bluffing or lying when they make up complete stories to cover up their mischievous acts. Three-year-olds, still unable to handle language, rely on pantomime to get their intentionally misleading messages through, messages that do not correspond to their emotional and mental states.

Human adults aren’t any better. They are faking their way through most of the day. They pretend to feel great, to be intelligent and tough, to easily handle life, to be sad at burials, to keep promises, to love animals, to enjoy their jobs, and to be reliable friends and perfect lovers. They have no qualms about it and some even seem to thoroughly enjoy it.

The social intelligence of faking

Human communication is riddled with bluffing behaviour. We fake attitudes, emotions, intentions, interest and disinterest. We even fake not to fake! Which shows the complexity and vitality of this peculiar aspect of social life. Bluffing is simply an evolutionary and behavioural fact.

Faking is, all in all, a sign of social intelligence. It is a communicational talent and necessity without which the enormous complexity of social interactions would not be possible. Faking is a relational lubricant, a weapon, a shield and an anaesthetic. The better at it an animal is the greater its chances to get along within its group. A high flexibility and compatibility with its peers tend to contribute to the individual’s and the group’s quality of life.

Faking morality

Human and non-human animals are not beyond good and evil. Bluffing may at times be really mean, harmful or even disastrous. The bluffer, then, risks punishment or exclusion from the group. But most of the time faking is goodnatured and doesn’t threaten the social and moral structure of a species. It pays animals to understand as soon as possible that bluffing is a matter of right dosage. Faking too much or too little may eventually get an individual into trouble. Whether it is used to belittle or to aggrandize oneself or whether its function is to please, to hurt or to be easy on other individuals, faking is a social activity that helps to position oneself in the social hierarchy of power, sex and food.

Manipulating for empathy

Faking and detecting fake thus have become important behavioural traits. The natural propensity to manipulate the members of other and one’s own species requires social and non-social animals to imagine how they appear – their faking included – to other animals, friends and foes. In a bluffer’s milieu predicting a peer’s, an enemy’s or a friend’s behaviour isn’t easy. It is a highly complex mental task that is also related to the development of empathy and compassion.

If you don’t feel comfortable with the above views, think about the last time you were flattered by someone. Didn’t you enjoy the sweetness of this particular breed of faking?

Let’s face it: all the world’s a stage, and men and women merely players. Shakespeare didn’t get fooled by faking. Yet he wasn’t inclusive enough. In fact: all animals are merely players and good and authentic ones at that! Their performance is about the truth of faking! And the name of the play that’s on is …Survival.

by Dr. Claude Pasquini