|
Article Frontiers in Psychology August 19, 2015 The Slow Decay and Quick Revival of Self-deception |
People demonstrate an impressive ability to self-deceive, distorting misbehavior to reflect positively on themselves—for example, by cheating on a test and believing that their inflated performance reflects their true ability. But what happens to self-deception when self-deceivers must face reality, such as when taking another test on which they cannot cheat? We find that self-deception diminishes over time only when self-deceivers are repeatedly confronted with evidence of their true ability (Study 1); this learning, however, fails to make them less susceptible to future self-deception (Study 2).
Keywords: self-deception; Cheating; self-enhancement; positive illusions; motivated reasoning; Perception; Behavior; Ethics;
Chance, Zoe, Francesca Gino, Michael I. Norton, and Dan Ariely. "The Slow Decay and Quick Revival of Self-deception." Art. 1075. Frontiers in Psychology 6 (August 19, 2015): 1–6.
