Deception is considered to be an immoral act by some people. The irony is that two virtues are required to deceive successfully: theory of mind and self-control.

Theory of mind is the ability to attribute mental states — beliefs, intents, desires, emotions, knowledge, etc. — to oneself and others, and to understand that others have beliefs, desires, intentions, and perspectives that are different from one’s own.

Theory of mind is required to know where others currently stand in their beliefs to get others to move to a different belief by means of manipulating their perspectives using their desires and intentions subverting their beliefs etc.

In short, having a good theory of mind is required to plan the deception.

Self-control is then required to carry out the plan.

Most people are uncomfortable using deception. Moreover, you’re standing above a fake reality when you’re deceiving people. For deception to work, you need to have a strong enough self-control to control the frame of interaction despite the limiting factors mentioned before.

Deceptions are mostly one-off acts. Once the deception is done, the target may realize the truth behind the deception and you won’t be able to use it again. If you need a more long-term technique, use delusions instead of deceptions.