The word self-deception refers to phenomena related to lying to oneself. This is one of the great pitfalls of the mind. Self-deception occurs in situations where we convince ourselves of a reality that is false, but we do it unconsciously.
The difference between lying and self-deception is that, by lying, the person is aware that he is not telling the truth, where while in self-deception, he accepts as reality a reality that is false without being aware of it.
- In other words.
- The one who lies to himself does not realize what he does.
- And that is precisely where the power of self-deception resides.
- Until we realize.
- Self-deception manifests its power in its own way.
- Which we might call silent and chameleon.
There are different types of self-deception, some more common than others, in addition, each of them has different psychological effects, here we will mention the four most common types of self-deception and their main psychological effects.
Functional self-deception occurs in situations where the person lies to himself and tries to convince himself that his decision is correct. The best known example of functional self-deception is found in the fable of fox and grapes.
In this fable, the fox characterized by its cunning is attracted by a bunch of juicy grapes and tries to reach it by jumping several times, after some unsuccessful attempts, the fox stops trying and faces his frustration through self-deception. who no longer wants grapes, believing they were not ripe enough.
The self-deception described in the fable of the fox and the grapes is called functional self-deception, has a very clear function (hence its name): for the fox the act of lying to himself serves to avoid the discomfort that comes from failure. because it has not satisfied its need to reach the grapes.
Functional self-deception is adaptable in the short term, but in the long term it is neither positive nor beneficial The psychological effect is achieved because the person decides to turn a truth (not being able to achieve a goal) into a lie that reassures him (the goal is not worth it).
According to the psychologist Giorgio Nardone, all the good intentions repeated in excess become negative and counterproductive, that is, anything that is functional, whether extended in excess or in high doses, has the opposite effect.
The person who uses functional self-deception is not questioned and remains constantly in their comfort zone, instead of preparing to acquire the skills necessary to achieve their goals, she continues to lie to herself, believing that what she wanted is no longer so important. or it’s not worth the effort required.
“Lying is a language game that must be learned like any other. ” ? Wittgenstein Ludwig?
Self-deception called? Valuing to believe is born of the need to end cognitive dissonance, is characterized by the belief that if something costs a lot of money, time or effort, we appreciate it more than so we do not pay such a high price, for example, we enjoy being in a group in which it was more difficult to enter than in other groups.
In situations where people have to work hard to achieve a goal, whether attractive or not, their attention is selectively directed toward anything that confirms that their goal is important, you end up believing that the goal is important to justify the investment. The cognitive dissonance mentioned above appears.
Psychologically, human beings cannot maintain a long-standing contradiction between the cognitive system (beliefs, thoughts and ideas) and the behavioral system (actions, behaviors), and self-deception is presented as a way to resolve this contradiction.
The main psychological effect of this self-deception is that the person continues to strive to achieve a goal that often does not correspond to his system of principles and values, is an illusion that has an expiration date because its effect does not last forever. In the long run, the person often realizes this mistake and is disappointed in some way.
The comfort of self-deception is the star of self-deception and is often seen in very jealous people. The comforting lie is observed in situations where the person blames an outside agent for his situation and complains about himself.
“Did my mother convey fear to me to dogs? Or to think that ” I’m very jealous because my partner gives me reasons “are examples of comforting self-deception. These are thoughts that the person often expresses to find comfort.
Thus, comforting self-deception protects self-esteem and ego; makes us believe that we are not responsible for what is happening and that we are victims of the situation; on the one hand, it’s positive, because we’re not 100%. responsible for what happens to us, but on the other hand, blaming past events and external factors immobilizes us in the face of change.
Comforting lies protect us. A protection that lasts a long time prevents us from growing psychologically, the psychological effect of this self-deception is that it prevents us from facing the problems that make us feel bad and confirms that it is impossible to overcome them.
One of the most subtle ways to make mistakes is to lie to others to convince you are situations in which the person tells their stories, situations and perceptions in a distorted way. small distortion of reality, but gradually the person ends up being absorbed by his story and character.
“He who tells a lie does not know the difficult task he has undertaken, for he will be forced to invent twenty other lies to support the certainty of the former. “Alexander Pope?
If this mechanism of lying to others is repeated several times, the lie will eventually become true, even for those who created it. One possible explanation for this phenomenon is that the brain adapts to the dishonesty and lie that is lived as a reality.
It is as if the person forgot to have constructed a false truth. Even in the face of empirical evidence for their own lies, these people continue to deny reality, not out of dishonesty, but because they really believe in it.
No one is immune to self-deception. This is a very common and, to some extent, normal psychological phenomenon. Not lying to yourself requires deep personal reflection. Diving in yourself, knowing your values, ideals and desires is the first step to protect yourself from deception and put you in the right direction. of the goals you’d really like to achieve.