The slow decay and quick revival of self-deception.
People demonstrate an impressive ability to self-deceive, distorting misbehavior to reflect positively on themselves-for example, by cheating on a test and believing that their inflated performance reflects their true ability. But what happens to self-deception when self-deceivers must face reality, such as when taking another test on which they cannot cheat? We find that self-deception diminishes over time only when self-deceivers are repeatedly confronted with evidence of their true ability (Study 1); this learning, however, fails to make them less susceptible to future self-deception (Study 2).
Yale School of Management, Yale University , New Haven, CT, USA.
Zoë
Z
Chance
Harvard Business School, Harvard University , Boston, MA, USA.
Francesca
F
Gino
Harvard Business School, Harvard University , Boston, MA, USA.
Michael I
MI
Norton
Fuqua School of Business, Duke University , Durham, NC, USA.
Dan
D
Ariely
cheating; motivated reasoning; positive illusions; self-deception; self-enhancement