Deception, making people believe things that aren't true is a fairly well understood behavior. But what about self deception? Is it really possible to deceive oneself? Self deception is a controversy for philosophers and psychologists alike, as it challenges the common view of the self. Some even claim that self deception is impossible.
In real life, however, we see behavior that may best be explained by self deception. In this world there seems to be many who refuse to face the truth and reality for various reasons. A common psychological explanation of self deception is freudian. According to Freudian theory, uncomfortable and anxiety provoking thoughts can either be denied, repressed or rationalized. In addition, Freud distinguishes between wishes and thoughts. It can be argued that because we want to and have a need in believing in something we sometimes confuse reality with our desires. Freudian theory also distinguishes between the conscious and unconscious self, which opens up for the possibility that our unconscious self can "deceive" our conscious self and vice versa. According to cognitive dissonance theory, two conflicting ideas creates mental anxiety and discomfort. We therefore have a tendency to either repress one of those thoughts or rationalizing our behavior or ideas to such an extent that we can harmonize the conflicting ideas. For instance, if you want to smoke but know it is bad, you may claim that you are only a party smoker (you may however often go to parties and therefore smoke a lot) There is also an evolutionary explanation of self deception. Trivers (the same researcher that developed the altruistic theory of self reciprocity) believes that self deception is a behavior that has evolved in order to be able to deceive others. If you truly believe in a lie that you are telling someone else, it is best to believe in it yourself. Then it won't show in your body language that you are lying.
2 Comments
New
10/1/2011 04:02:11 pm
I find this idea of self deception to be one of the most prominent practices in reality. We see it everywhere. The efforts in which people put in to harmonize or fabricate reality. Some just choose to be ignorant because "Ignorance is bliss" :) I've been exposed to this certain idea not only in the fields of psychology. But also in the arts and literature. They're everywhere. And it leads me to my favorite idea of Kitsch. This would probably be the 100th time I've mentioned Kitsch to you? hahaha
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Mr Hansson
10/2/2011 11:46:39 pm
Thanks for introducing me to Kitsch, I have been reflecting on the idea.
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AuthorThis is my class blog for IB Psychology. Here I will publish reflections on psychology, reviews of psychology books, recommended links, lecture notes, and information on psychology topics that are not covered by the syllabus. You are free to add comments or ask me questions. Archives
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