# Self-Deception **Domain:** Cognition / Evolutionary Psychology / Epistemology **Doc Type:** Concept Node **Maturity:** Developing ## Definition **Self-deception** describes the maintenance or presentation of a distorted belief or self-description despite information that might correct it. Its mechanisms, degree of awareness, and functions vary; not every false belief is a strategic deception. ## Evolutionary Hypothesis and Boundaries [[wiki/Robert Trivers|Robert Trivers]] argues that some self-deception can help a person deceive others by reducing detectable cues of conscious lying. In his 2006 Edge conversation he frames this explicitly as a belief and hypothesis. A later paper coauthored with William von Hippel develops the proposal through dissociations among conscious and unconscious processes while also considering costs and alternative psychological debates. Neither source establishes that this mechanism explains every error, ideology, or human disaster. [[wiki/Human Animality|Human Animality]] is the broader behavioral route. [[articles/Humans and AIs as Entangled Learning Systems|Humans and AIs as Entangled Learning Systems]] studies recursively shaped self-description and feedback systems; that article is an adjacent application, not evidence that Trivers was discussing AI training. ## Relationships - **Proposed mechanism by:** [[wiki/Robert Trivers|Robert Trivers]] — evolutionary account of interpersonal advantages and costs of certain self-deceptive processes. - **Part of:** [[wiki/Human Animality|Human Animality]] as one possible cognitive-social tendency, distinct from aggression and moral responsibility. - **Related epistemic route:** [[articles/Walking the Beautiful Path Through the Greatest Transformation in Human History|Walking the Beautiful Path Through the Greatest Transformation in Human History]] addresses self-knowledge; [[articles/Humans and AIs as Entangled Learning Systems|Humans and AIs as Entangled Learning Systems]] addresses feedback-shaped identity. These are thematic comparisons, not coauthorship or endorsement. - **Collections:** [[collections/Consciousness Continuity|Consciousness Continuity]] and [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] provide distinct person-scale and successor-scale contexts. ## Simple Reminders, Quotations, and Thoughts > “I believe that self-deception evolves in the service of deceit.” > **— Robert Trivers**, *“Deceit and Self-Deception,” Edge conversation, May 30, 2006* [[reminders/Deception/Self-Deception Helps Us Deceive Others by Robert Trivers|Self-Deception Helps Us Deceive Others by Robert Trivers]] > “The ability to rationalize our dishonesty away is incredibly human and we need to think about how to fight this.” > **— Dan Ariely**, *Scientific American Science Talk, 2012* [[reminders/Deception/Rationalization Lets Dishonesty Feel Honest by Dan Ariely|Rationalization Lets Dishonesty Feel Honest by Dan Ariely]] ## Sources / Provenance - [Robert Trivers, “Deceit and Self-Deception,” Edge conversation (2006)](https://www.edge.org/conversation/robert_trivers-deceit-and-self-deception) — authorial hypothesis and evolutionary argument. - [William von Hippel and Robert Trivers, “The evolution and psychology of self-deception,” *Behavioral and Brain Sciences* 34 (2011)](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21288379/) — coauthored proposal and abstract scope.