The Psychology of Truth and Lies
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.
For the part of you with thirty open tabs that never became anything.
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.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
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
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.
- 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.
More Psychology on Tomo
The Psychology of Everyday Life
Discover why you think, feel, and act the way you do. This course turns the lens on your own mind to reveal the hidden patterns that drive your daily decisions and social interactions.
Women's Psychology: Beyond the Surface
Move beyond stereotypes to understand the unique biological, social, and cognitive frameworks that shape women's experiences and strengths.
The Hidden Architecture of Choice
Move beyond basic definitions to understand the invisible forces that shape human behavior, from the shortcuts our brains take to the way environments nudge our decisions.
Psychology: The Science of Behavior
Move beyond armchair intuition to understand the hidden mechanisms driving human thought, action, and social interaction.
Tulpa: From Myth to Mind
Trace the evolution of thought-forms from ancient Tibetan mysticism to modern psychological phenomena and learn how the mind can manifest its own companions.
Mastering Your Daily Rhythms
Move beyond basic willpower to engineer a life that runs on autopilot. Learn the data-driven strategies for making good choices effortless and breaking the cycles that hold you back.
Start The Psychology of Truth and Lies today.
Download Tomo, search The Psychology of Truth and Lies, and play your first lesson in under a minute.