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Self-Deception: Why We Believe Our Own Lies
Stop Kidding Yourself and Succeed
Self-deception is the filtered lens of rose-coloured glasses that we hang around our necks. And it’s this ability to dupe ourselves into believing things we want to know, even when the evidence is stacked against us.
While it might appear like an odd and maybe damaging trait, it turns out that self-deception is exceedingly common, and potentially a host of things good, bad and neutral.
We’re going to look at why we tell ourselves such lies, how this strange trick of the mind works, and how we can potentially tap into the borderland that exists between self-deception and self-knowledge.
The Mechanisms of Self-Deception
At a fundamental level, self-deception is the process of getting our conscious mind to accept what our unconscious mind knows is false, sustained by a host of psychological mechanisms.
Yes you got that right. There is a part of you that knows you’re wrong even when you convince yourself you are right. This inner conflict is holding you back.
Cognitive Dissonance
If we do something we think is wrong, our brain can’t process that tension indefinitely, so we’ll change our belief to match our…
