People don’t know when they’re lying to themselves
“I am on a drug. It’s called Charlie Sheen. It’s not available because if you try it, you will die. Your face will melt off and your children will weep over your exploded body.” – Charlie Sheen
“We put our fingers in the eyes of those who doubt that Libya is ruled by anyone other than its people.” – Muammar Gaddafi
You don’t have to look far for instances of people lying to themselves. Whether it’s a drug-addled actor or an almost-toppled dictator, some people seem to have an endless capacity for rationalising what they did, no matter how questionable. We might imagine that these people really know that they’re deceiving themselves, and that their words are mere bravado. But Zoe Chance from Harvard Business School thinks otherwise.
Using experiments where people could cheat on a test, Chance has found that cheaters not only deceive themselves, but are largely oblivious to their own lies. Their ruse is so potent that they’ll continue to overestimate their abilities in the future, even if they suffer for it. Cheaters continue to prosper in their own heads, even if they fail in reality.
Chance asked 76 students to take a maths test, half of whom could see an answer key at the bottom of their sheets. Afterwards, they had to predict their scores on a second longer test. Even though they knew that they wouldn’t be able to see the answers this time round, they imagined higher scores for themselves (81%) if they had the answers on the first test than if they hadn’t (72%). They might have deliberately cheated, or they might have told themselves that they were only looking to “check” the answers they knew all along. Either way, they had fooled themselves into thinking that their strong performance reflected their own intellect, rather than the presence of the answers.
And they were wrong – when Chance asked her recruits to actually take the hypothetical second test, neither group outperformed the other. Those who had used the answers the first-time round were labouring under an inflated view of their abilities.
Read the rest on Not Exactly Rocket Science.
Tags: lying, mind, psychology, research, self-deception
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Dallas the Phallus on -
Looks like a good book, Stephen. I'll add this to my list.
Mmm... I can back some of this up: when I was younger I observed that all the guys who deceived with lies or by being overly-confident, egotistical dicks usually got the girl, over those who were always honest.
Yes, to most people, what is actually/factully true is irrelevant. Most people are only concerned with whatever appears to be truthful. To many, the illusion of confidence is more alluring than the frankness of self-doubt.
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Permalink Reply by T A A on -
Anecdotally, I've always found it very easy to lie to my parents, to the school, to my boss, to corporations... but I find it very hard to lie to individuals, even harder to lie to individuals I don't know. I've experienced this in legal conflicts with corporations. An unsure mind cannot win. In order to win in a conflict, one must have certainty.
However other studies have demonstrated that tho it's true that males with a talent for lying are popular among their peers, because they're viewed as successful, the same is not true for women. Women are not judged on the same popularity scheme.
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Permalink Reply by Dallas the Phallus on
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In order to win in a conflict, one must have certainty.
It's interesting to note that research shows that when two people get into an argument, both walk away feeling that they were the one who won it.
Women are not judged on the same popularity scheme.
Not at all. Same goes for the expression of things like sadness or anger. It is a double standard.
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