Self-Deception

• Source: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• Type: Academic Reference

Summary

Self-deception is a puzzling phenomenon: How can someone simultaneously be the deceiver and the deceived? The more philosophers examine it, the more paradoxical it becomes. Yet empirical evidence suggests self-deception is not only possible but pervasive.

The Core Paradoxes

Static Paradox

How can a person simultaneously hold contradictory beliefs?

• As deceiver: believes ~p (the truth)
• As deceived: believes p (the falsehood)
• Consciously believing both p and ~p seems impossible

Dynamic Paradox (Strategic Paradox)

How can a person intentionally deceive themselves without the strategy failing?

• As deceiver: must be aware of the deceitful strategy
• As deceived: must be unaware for it to work
• A strategy known to be deceitful should fail

Two Main Approaches

Intentionalist Approaches

Self-deception is intentional, like interpersonal deception. To avoid paradox, they introduce divisions:

Temporal Partitioning:

• Self-deception unfolds over time
• You set up the deception, then forget you did so
• Example: Destroying evidence of wrongdoing, then genuinely forgetting months later

Psychological Partitioning:

• The mind is divided into parts (deceiver vs deceived)
• Ranges from separate “subagents” to mere boundaries between conflicting attitudes
• The deceiving part is hidden from conscious awareness

Revisionist Approaches

Reject the interpersonal deception model. Two strategies:

Revise the Intention Requirement (Deflationary):

• Self-deception doesn’t require intention
• It’s motivationally biased belief, not intentional deception
• Desires, fears, or anxieties bias how we process evidence
• Example: A mother believes her daughter doesn’t have learning difficulties — not through intention, but because her desire makes her misread evidence

Revise the Belief Requirement:

• Maybe self-deceivers don’t hold full contradictory beliefs
• Alternative attitudes: hope, suspicion, anxiety, pretense
• Beliefs may be indeterminate or “in-between”

Mele’s Deflationary Conditions

Alfred Mele’s influential account says self-deception requires:

1. The acquired belief p is false
2. Data is treated in a motivationally biased way
3. This bias non-deviantly causes the false belief
4. Available evidence actually supports ~p more than p
5. The person consciously believes there’s significant chance ~p is true
6. The belief comes from reasoning the person wrongly considers proper

Key Distinction: Self-Deception vs Wishful Thinking

The difference is contested:

• Intentionalists: Self-deception is intentional; wishful thinking isn’t
• Non-intentionalists: Self-deception involves tension, selective evidence processing, and failure of self-knowledge that wishful thinking lacks

Why It Matters

Understanding self-deception helps explain:

• Motivated irrationality
• Moral responsibility (we hold self-deceivers responsible)
• Failures of self-knowledge
• How bias operates unconsciously

My Thoughts

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