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Related Concept Videos

Understanding Deception01:14

Understanding Deception

Deception is a pervasive aspect of human communication. Empirical studies have shown that most individuals engage in some form of deceit on a daily basis, with approximately 20% of social exchanges involving deceptive elements. Lying follows a developmental trajectory, peaking during adolescence and declining with age, possibly due to the maturation of cognitive control and social accountability.Cognitive and Social Factors in Deception DetectionDespite its prevalence, accurately detecting...
Strategies of Self-Presentation II: Self-Verification01:17

Strategies of Self-Presentation II: Self-Verification

Self-verification is a fundamental psychological drive wherein individuals seek affirmation of their self-concept from others, striving for consistency between their internal self-view and external perceptions. This drive operates even when the self-concept is negative, influencing interpersonal behavior and feedback preferences in complex and often counterintuitive ways. Unlike the self-enhancement motive, which seeks positive evaluations, self-verification prioritizes coherence and...
Self-Evaluation: Self-Enhancement and Self-Verification03:00

Self-Evaluation: Self-Enhancement and Self-Verification

Social psychologists have documented that feeling good about ourselves and maintaining positive self-esteem is a powerful motivator of human behavior (Tavris & Aronson, 2008). In the United States, members of the predominant culture typically think very highly of themselves and view themselves as good people who are above average on many desirable traits (Ehrlinger, Gilovich, & Ross, 2005). Often, our behavior, attitudes, and beliefs are affected when we experience a threat to our...
Protecting Self-Esteem01:27

Protecting Self-Esteem

Self-esteem, a central component of psychological well-being, is actively maintained through various cognitive and behavioral strategies. Individuals employ specific mechanisms to preserve a positive self-concept and mitigate threats to their self-worth, particularly in contexts involving social evaluation or personal feedback. Four primary techniques are commonly used to sustain self-esteem.Manipulating AppraisalsOne prominent strategy involves manipulating appraisals from others. Individuals...
False Memories01:18

False Memories

False memories represent a cognitive distortion in which individuals recall events that did not happen, or remember them in an altered form. This phenomenon highlights the brain's constructive nature in processing and recalling memories, emphasizing that memory is not a perfect representation of past events but rather a dynamic reconstruction influenced by various factors.
One primary source of false memories is misattribution, where individuals incorrectly associate external information with...
Self-Discrepancy Theory02:45

Self-Discrepancy Theory

One influential perspective on what motivates people's behavior is detailed in Tory Higgin's self-discrepancy theory (Higgins, 1987). He proposed that people hold disagreeing internal representations of themselves that lead to different emotional states.

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 10, 2026

The Modified Temptation Resistance Task: A Paradigm to Elicit Children's Strategic Lie-telling
06:51

The Modified Temptation Resistance Task: A Paradigm to Elicit Children's Strategic Lie-telling

Published on: April 6, 2018

True lies: self-stabilization without self-deception.

Werner Greve1, Dirk Wentura

  • 1University of Hildesheim, Institute of Psychology, Hildesheim, Germany. wgreve@uni-hildesheim.de

Consciousness and Cognition
|July 22, 2010
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Self-deception involves balancing self-concept stability with reality. Cognitive processes, not fully understood by the individual, drive this, while self-immunization protects core beliefs by adjusting peripheral ones.

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Last Updated: Jun 10, 2026

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Published on: April 6, 2018

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Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Cognitive Science

Background:

  • Self-deception presents conceptual paradoxes, balancing self-concept stability against reality acceptance.
  • Understanding self-deception requires reconciling personal experience with underlying cognitive mechanisms.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To resolve conceptual difficulties in self-deception by proposing two explanatory levels: personal and cognitive (subpersonal).
  • To explain how the tension between self-concept stability and adjustment to reality is managed through self-immunization.

Main Methods:

  • Distinguishing between personal language explanations and cognitive (subpersonal) processes.
  • Investigating self-immunization strategies that maintain central self-conceptions by modifying peripheral aspects.
  • Conducting studies at both personal and subpersonal levels of explanation.

Main Results:

  • Conceptual clarity achieved by differentiating between the person deceiving themselves and the underlying cognitive processes.
  • Self-immunization identified as a mechanism preserving core self-concepts by adapting peripheral beliefs and their evidential weight.
  • Empirical support for the dual-level explanation of self-deception and self-immunization.

Conclusions:

  • Self-deception can be understood through a dual-level framework, integrating personal experience with cognitive science.
  • Self-immunization is a key psychological process for maintaining self-concept integrity amidst reality demands.
  • Findings offer implications for understanding self-images, self-insight, and psychological adjustment.