What is deception?

• A. The act of preventing a riot
• B. A form of self-talk
• C. A professional boundary
• D. The act of lying to, misleading, tricking or fooling another person

Answer: (D)

Deception is about intentionally misleading someone. It means lying, misrepresenting facts, or tricking another person into believing something that isn’t true. The key element is intent to cause the other person to hold a false belief, often through false statements, hiding relevant information, or presenting things in a misleading way. In professional or everyday contexts, deception undermines trust and can cause harm, so it’s something to recognize and avoid.

The other ideas don’t fit deception because they describe things that aren’t about misleading others: preventing a riot is about safety actions, self-talk is an internal mental process, and a professional boundary is about ethical limits in relationships, not about deceiving someone.