HYPOCRISY? SO WHAT EXACTLY IS IT?

Hypocrisy is the act of condemning another person, where the stated basis for the criticism is the breach of a rule which also applies to the critic and of which the critic is in breach to a similar or greater extent. A person engaged in hypocrisy is called a hypocrite. The word hypocrisy, derives from the Latin hypocrisis which further derives from the Greek hypókrisis -both meaning 'play-acting' or 'pretense'. The Greek noun derives from the compound verb hypokrīnesthai to judge, which itself is etymologically related to the word "criticism".

What is and is not hypocrisy?
In an act of hypocrisy the aim is to condemn another person or people, not to condemn an act. To preach against an act of which one is oneself guilty, does not in itself constitute hypocrisy, even if one takes efforts to conceal one's behaviour. It becomes hypocrisy when it involves verbal attacks or demands of punishment against perpetrators of the act which one practices oneself.
Concealment or evasion is not necessary for hypocrisy; hypocrisy can involve the open practice of a behaviour for which one condemns others. If there is a salient difference between the critic and the criticised which makes the criticised person reproachable for the act, but the critic not, then it is not hypocrisy; e.g. a parent condemning their child for using a dangerous implement which the parent themselves uses is not a hypocrite. If the difference in status appealed to by the critic is bogus, then it is indeed hypocrisy. The term double standard is used, confusingly enough, for both cases, as a simple descriptive phrase in the case of the parents, and as a pejorative phrase for open hypocrisy in the second case.
Whether the criticism is based on the absence of a behaviour or on the practise of a behaviour, the same criteria for hypocrisy apply.

Hypocrisy has been described alongside lack of sincerity, as a characteristic which attracts particular opprobrium in the modern age. Many belief systems condemn behaviours related to hypocrisy. In some translations of the Book of Job, the Hebrew word chaneph is rendered as "hypocrite," though it usually means "godless" or "profane." In the Christian Bible, Jesus condemns the scribes and Pharisees as hypocrites in the passage known as the Woes of the Pharisees. In the Buddhist text Dhammapada, Gautama Buddha condemns a man who takes the appearance of an ascetic but is full of passions within. In Islam, the Qur'an rails against the munafiq - those who claim to be believers and peacemakers, thinking they are fooling Allah and others, but only fool themselves.

In psychology, hypocritical behavior is closely related to the fundamental attribution error: individuals are more likely to explain their own actions by their environment, yet they attribute the actions of others to 'innate characteristics', thus leading towards judging others while justifying ones' own actions.

Also, some people genuinely fail to recognize that they have character faults which they condemn in others. This is called Psychological projection. This is Self-deception rather than deliberate deception of other people. People understand vices which they are struggling to overcome or have overcome in the past. Efforts to get other people to overcome such vices may be sincere. There may be an element of hypocrisy as well if the actors do not readily admit how far they are or have been subject to these vices.