The Slow Decay and Quick Revival of Self-Deception

• Main Authors: Zoe eChance, Francesca eGino, Michael I. Norton, Dan eAriely
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2015-08-01
• Series: Frontiers in Psychology
• Subjects: self-deception; self-enhancement; cheating behavior; Motivated reasoning; positive illusions
• Online Access: http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01075/full

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).