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Self-deception: Adaptation or by-product?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 February 2011
Abstract
By systematically biasing our beliefs, self-deception can endanger our ability to successfully convey our messages. It can also lead lies to degenerate into more severe damages in relationships. Accordingly, I suggest that the biases reviewed in the target article do not aim at self-deception but instead are the by-products of several other mechanisms: our natural tendency to self-enhance, the confirmation bias inherent in reasoning, and the lack of access to our unconscious minds.
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Target article
Self-deception: Adaptation or by-product?
Related commentaries (1)
The evolution and psychology of self-deception