Smith, David Livingstone 1953-
SMITH, David Livingstone 1953-
PERSONAL: Born 1953. Education: Antioch University, M.A.; Kings College London, Ph.D.
ADDRESSES: Home—Portland, ME. Office—Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, University of New England, Biddeford, ME 04005.
CAREER: Antioch University Center for British Studies, Yellow Springs, OH, lecturer in psychology; Regent's College London, London, England, interim dean and director of graduate programs; University of New England, Portland, ME, visiting professor of philosophy, and founding director of New England Institute for Cognitive Science and Evolutionary Psychology. Visiting professor at University of London, Middlesex University, Surrey University, and Ithaca College. Psychotherapist; clinical director of Kids Company.
MEMBER: American Philosophical Association, Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Behavioral and Brain Sciences (associate).
WRITINGS:
Hidden Conversations: An Introduction to Communicative Psychoanalysis, Routledge (New York, NY), 1991, 2nd edition, Karnac (London, England), 1999.
(As David L. Smith) Approaching Psychoanalysis, Karnac Books (London, England), 1999.
Freud's Philosophy of the Unconscious, Kluwer Academic Publishers (Boston, MA), 1999.
Psychoanalysis in Focus, Sage Publications (Thousand Oaks, CA), 2003.
Why We Lie: The Evolutionary Roots of Deception and the Unconscious Mind, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2004.
Member of editorial board, Evolutionary Psychology.
SIDELIGHTS: Philosopher and educator David Livingstone Smith is the founding director of the New England Institute for Cognitive Science and Evolutionary Psychology at the University of New England. In his 2004 work Why We Lie: The Evolutionary Roots of Deception and the Unconscious Mind, Smith "speculates that deception developed as an adaptive mechanism to ensure our survival and reproductive success," remarked Library Journal critic Laurie Bartolini. Smith demonstrates that plants and animals successfully use deception as an evolutionary mechanism, argues that human beings benefit from both self-deception and social manipulation, and suggests that contemporary societal structures influence deceptive behavior. According to Los Angeles City Beat contributor Ezrha Jean Black, "Smith is concerned with the mental apparatus of deception and self-deception as it has evolved in Homo sapiens, how it operates across a social dynamic, and how it seems to have broken down as the size and complexity of human societies have outstripped its capacity for correction." As Smith told Vadim Liberman in an Across the Board interview, "We spent most of our time as a species living in small communities where the system of personal relationships … really was a powerful constraint on lying. If you were caught lying, your reputation was shot or you were banished from the community. It's easier to avoid that sort of consequence in the mass, anonymous society we have today." In a Booklist review of Why We Lie, Donna Seaman noted that "Smith's inquiry is stimulating and unsettling," and a Kirkus Reviews critic deemed the work "deliciously tantalizing, with morality as the Grandest Deceit of them all."
BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:
PERIODICALS
Across the Board, September-October, 2004, Vadim Liberman, "David Livingstone Smith Is a Liar" (interview), p. 13.
Booklist, July, 2004, Donna Seaman, review of Why We Lie: The Evolutionary Roots of Deception and the Unconscious Mind, p. 1802.
Kirkus Reviews, May 1, 2004, review of Why We Lie, p. 434.
Library Journal, July, 2004, Laurie Bartolini, review of Why We Lie, p. 114.
Psychology Today, July-August, 2004, review of Why We Lie, p. 34.
ONLINE
Los Angeles City Beat Web site, http://www.lacitybeat.com/ (November 18, 2004), Ezrha Jean Black, "David Livingstone Smith: The Author of Why We Lie on Homo Mendax and the Culture of Deceit" (interview).
University of New England, New England Institute Web site, http://www.une.edu/nei/ (February 25, 2005), "David Livingstone Smith."