Self-deceived individuals are better at deceiving others.

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Behavioral Economics
• Social Cognition

Background:

• Self-deception is a common human trait with potentially severe negative consequences.
• A controversial evolutionary hypothesis suggests self-deception evolved to aid in deceiving others.

Purpose of the Study:

• To empirically test the hypothesis that self-deception evolved to facilitate the deception of others.
• To investigate the real-world implications of self-deception on social perception and institutional functioning.

Main Methods:

• Field study examining the relationship between self-deception (operationalized as over/underconfidence) and observer judgments.
• Analysis of how observer perceptions of individuals' competence and accomplishments are influenced by self-deceptive tendencies.

Main Results:

• Overconfident individuals were consistently overrated by observers.
• Underconfident individuals were judged by observers to be less competent than their actual abilities.
• Findings indicate that self-deception, rather than pure accomplishment, can influence social rewards.

Conclusions:

• The study provides real-world support for the hypothesis that self-deception aids in deceiving others.
• Promoting overconfident, self-deceived individuals may inadvertently increase institutional vulnerability to risk.
• Practical assessment methods are proposed to mitigate the influence of self-deception in organizations.