Socially Induced Self Deception

It is irrefutable that self-deception is a key component of human behavior and that many of us will self-deceive at one point or another. According to Starek & Keating, self-deception “is a motivated unawareness of conflicting knowledge in which threatening knowledge is selectively filtered from consciousness as a psychological defense, thereby reducing anxiety and inducing a positive self-bias” (Starek & Keating, 1991, p. 146). Philosopher Amélie Rorty believes that self-deception is applicable to society as a whole because “socially induced self-deception is an instrument in the preservation of social cooperation and cohesion" (Amélie Rorty, 1996, p.82). I agree with this viewpoint as it best explains self-deception in our society. In the following paper I will examine why this concept is applicable to large segments of our society by providing key evidence to support my position.

First, self-deception in service of social advancement …show more content…
According to Hipple and Trivers, self-deception evolved overtime to help people get rid of “cues” that might reveal their deceptive intent (von Hippel & Trivers, 2015, pg. 1). This is applicable to society because many us are aware of the things to look out for when someone is lying to us such as reduced eye contact, sweating, and speech patterns. Evolving ways to mask self-deception is a valuable thing to maintain cohesion in a group because keeping a hearing what they want to hear.

In conclusion, I completely agree with Amélie Rorty’s that self-deception is actively promoted in most societies to promote cohesion and social cooperation to achieve social continuity. This paper has proven that self-deception can be found in the social, informational, and evolutionary context of self-deception. It is invariably true that we as a society value lying as it brings us comfort and protects us from hard