Deception Within Adolescent Sexual Conduct

Abstract

Deception is presented as a "design to defeat a design" (Thompson 1986, p 64) where one actor purposefully changes the environment with the intention on generating a less adaptive response from another actor. The shared context combined with the indeterminacy of meanings makes deception not only possible, but also an important strategy for adaptation. In this regard not all deception temporarily causes individuals to reorganize their meaning making hierarchy around the changes made by the other party. Different uses of deceptions are explored with regards to adolescent sexual conduct, as their complex and quickly changing representations necessitate social recognition and adaptation.

Themes and Variation of N. S. Thompson-Song

“…Within this world, he sought to avoid mentalism and the implicit assumption that mental events were causes of behavior. Indeed, the authors in this special edition springboard from this careful reconsideration (Mitchell 2010), as well as that he gave to the concepts of design (Bateson 2010) and deception (Rosenbaum 2010). Nick campaigned against the anthropomorphism that sometimes seeped into his colleagues thinking, and he gave great attention to being careful with metaphors.…”