Self-Deception and Choice
نویسندگان
چکیده
We model agents who use self-deception to rationalize and justify actions that can eventually lead them into temptation. Formally, we extend Gul and Pesendorfer’s (2001) framework to three time periods and obtain a special functional form for the temptation utility at the interim stage. Our representation portrays an agent who is tempted (i) to relax her normative attitude towards future indulgence and (ii) to turn a blind eye to any possibility of temptation altogether. Welfare implications of self-deception are discussed.
منابع مشابه
Choice blindness and the non-unitary nature of the human mind
Experiments on choice blindness support von Hippel & Trivers’s (VH&T’s) conception of the mind as fundamentally divided, but they also highlight a problem for VH&T’s idea of non-conscious self-deception: If I try to trick you into believing that I have a certain preference, and the best way is to also trick myself, I might actually end up having that preference, at all levels of processing. The...
متن کاملA massive experiment on choice blindness in political decisions: Confidence, confabulation, and unconscious detection of self-deception
We implemented a Choice Blindness Paradigm containing political statements in Argentina to reveal the existence of categorical ranges of introspective reports, identified by confidence and agreement levels, separating easy from very hard to manipulate decisions. CBP was implemented in both live and web-based forms. Importantly, and contrary to what was observed in Sweden, we did not observe cha...
متن کاملThe Essential Instability of Self - Deception 47
Two apparent paradoxes lie at the heart of discussion of self-deception, one focusing on belief, the other on intention. The belief paradox concerns how the self-deceived can combine the belief that p and the belief that not-p. The intention paradox concerns how the self-deceived can intend to believe that p, and manage it, without knowing what they are up to and vitiating it. Both are said to ...
متن کاملImperfect Memory and Choice under Risk1
This paper proposes a model of choice under risk based on imperfect memory and self-deception. The model assumes that people have preferences over their own attributes and can, to some extent, manipulate their memories. It leads to a non-expected utility representation and provides a uni ed explanation for several empirical regularities: non-linear probability weights, small-stakes risk aversio...
متن کاملThe evolution and psychology of self-deception.
In this article we argue that self-deception evolved to facilitate interpersonal deception by allowing people to avoid the cues to conscious deception that might reveal deceptive intent. Self-deception has two additional advantages: It eliminates the costly cognitive load that is typically associated with deceiving, and it can minimize retribution if the deception is discovered. Beyond its role...
متن کامل