The Psychology of Truth and Lies
Explore the cognitive friction between honesty and deception. Learn why our brains are wired to believe, how we trick ourselves, and the strategic mechanics of decision-making under uncertainty.
Like Duolingo, but for The Psychology of Truth and Lies. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
A short one: 12 levels across 2 sections, about 24 minutes end to end, roughly 5 days at five minutes a day. It moves through The Mechanics of Deception and Deciding What to Believe. It assumes you already know the basics.
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Key ideas in The Psychology of Truth and Lies
- Lying requires more mental effort than truth-telling
- Physical tells are easily faked
- The Othello Error
- High-stakes arousal
- Cognitive load vs physical tells
- Othello Error and arousal
- The interviewer first asks open-ended questions without revealing what they already know.
- Liars prefer 'unverifiable' details like internal feelings or private thoughts.
- The suspect is allowed to commit to a specific, potentially false story.
- Identifying cognitive load as a superior indicator of deception over physical fidgeting
- Verifiable details include specific people met, receipts, or CCTV-monitored locations.
- Evidence is only disclosed at the end to highlight contradictions in the suspect's account.
- Recognizing the Othello Error in high-stakes psychological assessments
- Distinguishing between verifiable and non-verifiable details in statements
- Applying the Strategic Use of Evidence (SUE) technique sequence
- A baseline accounts for individual quirks like natural stuttering or avoiding eye contact.
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives The Psychology of Truth and Lies the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
Imagine a suspect sitting perfectly still and maintaining steady eye contact. Why might a psychologist be skeptical of these physical signs?
Get it right to open this lesson and 11 more in the app.
Where The Psychology of Truth and Lies takes you
- 1
The Mechanics of Deception
- Beyond the Pinocchio Myth
- The Lies We Tell Ourselves
- 2
Deciding What to Believe
- The Truth-Default in Decisions
- The Strategy of Honesty
2 sections · 4 units · 12 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
You pick the voice
The Psychology of Truth and Lies is taught in the The Storyteller style: every lesson is a story. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
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Start The Psychology of Truth and Lies today.
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