# 50. Self-delusion - the manipulation of self ## 50.1. Definition Self-delusion involves convincing oneself of a truth (or lack of truth), without regard to a rational, objective evaluation of the facts. "Humans tend to see what they want to see" is a statement which defines the phenomenon very well. Self-deception is the process or fact of misleading ourselves to accept claims as true or valid when they are actually false or invalid. Self-deception, in short, is a way in which we justify false beliefs about ourselves to ourselves. Self-deception works by using a process of denying or rationalising the relevance, significance, or importance of opposing evidence and logical argument. We include this subject in a discussion of manipulation because it relates to us all as victims of our own delusions. However, it is also relevant to the special character of both the manipulator and manipulated. This is a subject of intense interest in psychology and we won't attempt a complete analysis of all possible forms of self-delusion here. But there are some important aspects of self-delusion which make it highly relevant to the subject of human manipulation in general, and we will focus on these here. ### 50.1.1. The self-deluded victim One of the most interesting and important aspects of self-delusion is that a manipulator relies on his victims being, in some sense, already deluded. This may take the form of the victim's intellectual laziness, or it may be the result of years of accruing unquestioning assumptions by the victim. Either way, an intellectually weak or passive victim is fertile ground for a manipulator. The target group for this kind of manipulation includes people or groups with strongly held views based on unchallenged assumptions and, conversely, those who have no views at all because of an intellectual disinterest or a lack of intellectual faculty. Very often, a manipulator will seek out people who are, to some extent, intellectually lazy and incurious. For the predator, these are the natural equivalent of the weaker members of a species and therefore singled out for attention by the "hunter". ### 50.1.2. The deluded manipulator It's not just the manipulator's victims that are self-deluded. Very often the perpetrator is also suffering from some serious delusions. The obvious delusion is that the manipulator has more power than they actually possess. This is typical of the bully who uses and abuses weaker members of a group. The fallacy of strength and invincibility is only revealed when a stronger influence challenges the delusion of the bully. In another instance, the manipulative "control freak" justifies his own behaviour as being "necessary in the best interests" of the victim. This particular self-delusion is only challenged when the victim finally leaves, and the manipulator is confronted with the reality of having no-one left to control. ### 50.1.3. How self-delusion encourages manipulation This seeming contradiction of a deluded victim and a deluded manipulator gets close to the heart of why and how human manipulation actually works in reality. The coexistence of the delusional intellects of both victim and manipulator is only possible under certain conditions. It requires that both parties lack interest in self-analysis and that at least the victim is also intellectually lazy. None of us are capable of completely honest self-analysis, as we will see from the self-delusional types we describe below. However, an honest attempt at an intellectual understanding of ourselves and our context on this planet does reveal some interesting and useful dichotomies and lessons which we should try to learn, if we care at all about being semi-autonomous individuals. The most potent of these lessons are: > - Don't believe your own propaganda > - Don't abide rigidly by any assumption, whatever its origin. These mantras can simultaneously guard us against both becoming a manipulator and being manipulated. ### 50.1.4. How widespread is self-analysis? Only a small percentage of the world's population makes a real and consistent attempt at self-analysis. Most of us don't have the time. However important self-analysis may be, we are all mostly too busy with practical issues of survival. So, we are therefore, to some extent, all capable of being manipulated or indeed, of manipulating (consciously or unconsciously) our fellow human beings. It is part of the modern human condition that can only be mitigated, but never "cured". ### 50.1.5. Good science and bad science Thomas Gilovich, the Cornell psychologist, describes the details of many studies which make it clear that we must be on guard against the tendencies to: > - Misperceive random data and see patterns where there are none. > - Misinterpret incomplete or unrepresentative data and give extra attention to confirmatory data while drawing conclusions without attending to or seeking out non-confirmatory data. > - Make biased evaluations of ambiguous or inconsistent data, tending to be uncritical of supportive data and very critical of unsupportive data. It is because of these tendencies that advocates of "good science" demand clearly defined, controlled, double-blind, randomised, repeatable, publicly presented studies. Without such safeguards, we run a great risk of deceiving ourselves and others into believing things that are not actually true, based on our own delusions: bad science, in other words. Because of these tendencies, non-scientists must try to imitate the methodologies of "good science", whenever possible, in trying to establish theories and beliefs. In fact, scientists must keep reminding themselves of these tendencies and guard against pathological science and self-delusion. As potential victims of manipulation, the general public should insist on the same, high standards of evidence and interpretation from all sources which impact our decision making. That includes demanding our own honest evaluation and the avoidance of self-delusion in personal decision making. ## 50.2. Persistence Long. Self-delusions become embedded in our personalities and start to become conditioned responses to the extent where we don't even think about the issues any longer. The longer a delusion is allowed to persist, the more traumatic it becomes when the delusion is finally exposed. ## 50.3. Accessibility High, we all suffer from self-delusion. ## 50.4 Conditions/Opportunity/Effectiveness There is no manipulation as effective as Self-delusion. It requires no external reinforcement and it is very difficult to dislodge, particularly since the victims (ourselves) are firmly convinced that the basis of the delusion is actually fact. We all suffer from some delusions. It is common to the human condition. ## 50.5. Methodology/Refinements/Sub-species *See Child Pages:* - [[Anchoring Effect]] - [[Asymmetric Insight]] - [[Backfire Effect]] - [[Barnum Effect]] - [[Buyer's Stockholm Syndrome]] - [[Cathartic Venting]] - [[Control/Control via Language Manipulation/Self-Delusion/Confirmation Bias|Confirmation Bias]] - [[Continued Influence Effect]] - [[Fatalism of Disadvantage]] - [[Frequency Illusion]] - [[Inattention Blindness]] - [[Introspection Myth]] - [[Loss Aversion]] - [[Motivated Reasoning]] - [[Personal Rebellion - Selling Out]] - [[Procrastination]] - [[Recency Bias]] - [[Selective Bias]] - [[Selective Thinking]] - [[The Affect Bias]] - [[Control/Control via Language Manipulation/Self-Delusion/Wishful Thinking|Wishful Thinking]] ## 50.6. Avoidance and Counteraction The only way to avoid self-delusion is to learn how to be reflective, self-analytical and self-critical. This requires some self-knowledge, some self-discipline and perhaps some professional help.