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Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science pp 1–9Cite as

Reliability and Deception in Language

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Synonyms

Costly signalling; Deceit; Honest signalling; Honesty; Reputation

Definition

In general terms, honest signalling theory seeks to explain what keeps animal communication an honest and reliable indicator of health, condition, and genetic quality in the face of many incentives for deception.

Introduction

Many commentators on animal communication and human language evolution have suggested that several aspects of language can be characterized in terms of honest signalling theory. Granted, although the complexity of language and human social interactions make plausible the suggestion that human utterances may have many parameters that could conceivably be assessed by receivers, I nonetheless selectively focus here on the most evidence-based proposals current to the honest signalling literature. Namely, the particular honest signals to be reviewed here include three related areas of research: (1) voice pitch, (2) vocabulary size, and (3) unfavorable social reputation.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Nathan Oesch

Authors
  1. Nathan Oesch
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nathan Oesch .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  2. Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Division of Psychology, School of Social and Health Sciences, Abertay University, DD1 1HG, Dundee, UK

    Christopher D. Watkins

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© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

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Oesch, N. (2017). Reliability and Deception in Language. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3301-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3301-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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