Why people deceive themselves
Deceiving yourself is normal and can be useful in the short term; but not
in the long term

Date:
January 7, 2022
Source:
Ruhr-University Bochum
Summary:
A philosophy team analyzed the role self-deception plays in everyday
life and the strategies people use to deceive themselves. The
team described four strategies used to stabilize and shield the
positive self-image.

According to their theory, self-deception helps people to stay
motivated in difficult situations.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
A philosophy team from Ruhr-Universita"t Bochum (RUB) and the University
of Antwerp analysed the role self-deception plays in everyday life
and the strategies people use to deceive themselves. In the journal Philosophical Psychology, Dr. Francesco Marchi and Professor Albert
Newen describe four strategies used to stabilise and shield the positive self-image. According to their theory, self-deception helps people to
stay motivated in difficult situations. The article was published on 6
January 2022.


==========================================================================
Four strategies of self-deception "All people deceive themselves, and
quite frequently at that," says Albert Newen from the RUB Institute of Philosophy II. "For instance, if a father is convinced that his son is
a good student and then the son brings home bad grades, he may first say
that the subject isn't that important or that the teacher didn't explain
the material well." The researchers call this strategy of self-deception
the reorganisation of beliefs. In their article, they describe three more frequently used strategies that come into play even earlier in order to
prevent unpleasant facts from getting to you in the first place.

This includes selecting facts through purposeful action: people avoid
places or persons that might bring problematic facts to their attention,
such as the parent-teacher conference. Another strategy is to reject facts
by casting doubt on the credibility of the source. As long as the father
hears about his son's academic problems only indirectly and does not see
the grades, he can ignore the problems. The last strategy is what Newen
and Marchi call generating facts from an ambiguous state of affairs:
"For instance, if the kind mathematics teacher gently suggests that the
son is not coping, and the father would have expected a clear statement
in case of difficulties, he may interpret the considerable kindness and
the gentle description as a positive assessment of his son's abilities," Francesco Marchi elaborates on the example.

The researchers describe all four strategies as typical psychological
thinking tendencies. Self-deception is neither unreasonable nor
detrimental to people in the short term, but always in the medium and
long term. "These are not malicious ways of doing things, but part of the
basic cognitive equipment of humans to preserve their established view of themselves and the world," says Newen. In normal times with few changes,
the tendency to stick to proven views is helpful and also deeply rooted
in evolution. "However, this cognitive tendency is catastrophic in times
of radically new challenges that require rapid changes in behaviour,"
adds the Bochum researcher.

An example from the coronavirus situation Newen gives an example from the coronavirus situation: "If people in the early stages of a pandemic are skeptical about whether a vaccine will still show unexpected side effects,
this is understandable caution that people can initially compensate
for by strictly adhering to precautionary rules. Self- deception can
also help to avoid panic reactions," he explains. "However, if it
becomes clear in the medium term that the side effects of the vaccine
are clearly limited, then doubt is unreasonable and turns into direct
danger to oneself and others. Self-deception also entails distorted
risk assessments, because the health risk of foregoing vaccination is
much greater than that resulting from vaccination. Self-deception can
therefore stabilize the self- image, established ways of thinking and motivation to act in normal times, but becomes detrimental in times
of crisis that require radical rethinking and new ways of acting,
and puts society at risk." special promotion Get a free digital
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we always get wrong about diet and exercise. Claim_yours_now_>>> landing.newscientist.com/what-is-new-scientist-sd/ ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Ruhr-University_Bochum. Original
written by Julia Weiler.

Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Francesco Marchi, Albert Newen. Self-deception in the predictive
mind:
cognitive strategies and a challenge from motivation. Philosophical
Psychology, 2022; 1 DOI: 10.1080/09515089.2021.2019693 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/01/220107100652.htm
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