Robert trivers self deception the view
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Understanding the evolutionary logic and manifestations of self-deception can provide valuable insights into human behavior and cognition.
The chapter sets the stage for the rest of the book, which will explore self-deception in various domains of life and its implications for individuals and society. Language greatly expanded the opportunities for deceit and self-deception in humans, but is not required for the phenomenon to occur.
The author then outlines nine categories or manifestations of self-deception:
Self-inflation: This is the dominant style in human psychological life.
Self-deception occurs because we hide reality from our conscious minds in order to hide it from others. But can we correct our own biases? I am also working with others to try to understand the distribution of heterogamety in nature. In short, a repeated history of first cousin marriages elevates degrees of relatedness in all directions thereby devaluing the relative value of one’s own child, typically daughter.
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Robert Trivers begins this chapter of The Folly of Fools by describing his efforts in the early 1970s to construct social theory based on natural selection. To biologists this has long been a mystery. In a study of stockbrokers, those with a higher illusion of control were evaluated as less productive by superiors and earned less money.
We judge others more harshly for moral infractions than we judge ourselves. This can lead to poorer performance in domains like stock trading.
Biased social theories: We construct theories about our social reality that are often self-serving and biased. Studies have shown that people who are told they scored low on an IQ test are more likely to subsequently denigrate members of stereotypically intelligent groups or emphasize negative stereotypes about less intelligent groups.
In-group/out-group biases are among the most prominent and quickly formed psychological responses in humans.
Even arbitrary groupings like shirt color can induce these effects within 30 minutes. But once information reaches our brains, it is often distorted in our conscious minds through denial, projection, rationalization, and other ego-defense mechanisms. It infects fundamental relationships like parasite-host, predator-prey, plant-animal, male-female, neighbor-neighbor, parent-offspring, and even an organism's relationship to itself.
This book is destined to become a classic in scientific autobiography.” —Michael Shermer, Editor Skeptic, columnist Scientific American
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Why, however, would organisms both seek out information and then act to destroy it? Our sensory organs have evolved to give us an accurate view of reality, which is adaptive for navigating the world effectively. He gives the example of inflated self-confidence, which can be used to deceive others about one's abilities or likelihood of success in competitive situations.
It often emerges as a defensive strategy when one's self-image is threatened.
In-group/out-group biases: We quickly form in-group preferences and out-group derogation, even with arbitrary groupings. This reduces their ability to comprehend how others think and feel.