Self

We tested this evolutionary hypothesis on 166 college students by measuring self-importance- fabrication using both(prenominal) a questionnaire and a series of hypothetical servicinging scenarios. The results showed a convinced(p) correlation among self-deception and less(prenominal)on oscilloscope, which was moderated by private self- soul. Among participants with high, but not low, self- sensibleness, high virtuous self-concept individuals were to a greater extent willing to help hen electromotive force selflessness were present than low moral self-concept individuals, whereas there was no difference between the two chemical groups concerning helping without self-benefit.These results support the evolutionary stance that self-deception serves to maintain optimal moral self- concept, peculiarly for individuals with high solicitousness. ? 201 1 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Humans are social animals who pursue inconsiderate interests in a cooperati ve context in which common interests are also observed. There are later(prenominal) conflicts between pursuing self-interests and protecting public interests. Solving and balancing these conflicts has resulted in specific adaptations to group living.On the unitary hand, various group-oriented colonisation processes help to shape the development of moral self-concept among group members that serves to maintain the cooperative group context by curbing selfish interests and promoting public interests. Individuals of high moral self- concept thus exercise more altruistically. On the other hand, altruism operates among other adaptive forces, such as deception and self-deception, which ply one to claim or believe to be acting altruistically time actually acting elfish (Commodes & Toby, 2005 Cummins, 1999 von Hippie & T rivers, 201 1 Drivers, 1976).In deception, self-interests replace public interests in the conscious mind in self-deception, self-interests are pushed to the uncons cious and the individual is Only aware of public interests (Alexander, 1987). The factor regulating deception and self-deception may be self- consciousness, which is the extent to which individuals are inclined and able to examine their inner thoughts and feelings (Finessing, Cashier, & Buss, 1975). Low moral self-concept individuals may openly deceive others by maintaining Corresponding author. Address Department of Educational Psychology, The Chinese university of Hong Kong, Satin, N. T. Hong Kong. Tell. +852 2609 6936 fax +852 2603 6921. E-mail add emailprotected Du. Husk (L. Change). 0191-8869/$ see front matter ? 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. DOI1 0. 1 016/j. Paid. 2011. 07. 014 self-interests in the conscious mind, while high moral self-concept individuals may self-deceive by pushing self-interests to the unconscious. Self consciousness may serve to regulate these two silvering strategies. The purpose of the present study is to examine the relations among moral self- incept, self-consciousness, and self-deception in an effort to better understand self-deception within an evolutionary framework.Unlike philosophers who are concern about(predicate) the existence, realization, and intentionality of self-deception (e. G. , Davidson, 1985 Demos, 1960 Vinaigrette, 1969 Melee, 1 997), or mainstream psychologists who focus on the mechanism and functionality of self-deception (e. G. , Greenland, 1988 Smacked, 1983 Phallus & John, 1 998), evolutionary psychologists are interested in how self-deception has evolved as a fitness-enhancing strategy.The evolutionary view holds that self-deception has evolved in an un pleasing world as a result of an arms race between deception and deception detection (Drivers, 2000). In human group living, conflicts of interest are present most of the eon (Alexander, 1987), and deception has become a ubiquitous strategy to manipulate group members in order to increase self- interest and exploit public interests (Mit chell, 1 986 Drivers, 1985). Detection of deception evolves to guard against personal exploitation and public encroachment. In response, self-deception evolves to escape detection.During deception, maintaining both true and faithlessly information in the consciousness while presenting only falsehoods to others results in extra cognitive load for the deceiver (von Hippie & Drivers, 201 1). Conscious awareness about the truth may result in the deceiver unintentionally exposing clues about the truth. A self-deceiver keeps only false information in the consciousness H. J. Lu, L. Change / personality and Individual Differences 51 (2011) 845-849 and leaves no clues about the truth, which is kept in the unconscious, and thus avoids detection completely (Drivers, 2000).Whereas self-deception was fallally construed mainly as an social strategy to facilitate deception of others (Drivers, 1976, 1985), it also is an interpersonal variable that, as part of the self-system, entails chronic mi srepresentation of the self without immediate or explicit reference to others (Exurban & Skittish, 2007 Surrey, 201 1 von Hippie & Drivers 2011). In such a self-reliant and deceptive state of mind, a person may selectively access certain information about, and track other information to, the self in ways that convince both the self and others of aggrandize clarifications (Greenland, 1 988 Phallus & Reid, 1991Interpersonal self-deception therefore continues to serve the interpersonal goal of deceiving others (von Hippie & Drivers, 201 1). Consistent with the interpersonal origin of self-deception, preferential access to, and misrepresentation of, disparate aspects of the self are fashioned by active interpersonal interactions within a group context that informs the individual of his/her fitness conditions, including cooperation needs and opportunities.Often referred to as selfsameness in piety or altruism (Phallus & John, 1998), interpersonal self-deception is self-serving becaus e it facilitates and maintains cooperative relationships with other group members (Surrey, 2004 Surrey & McNally, 1997). Individuals are more inclined to be altruistic if they are unaware of the selfish intentions of themselves and others (Nesses & Lloyd, 1 992 Surrey, 2011). By the same logic, congenial altruism suppresses selfishness and engenders altruism in others, which actuates and perpetuates reciprocal altruism and cooperative group living (Alexander, 1987).As part of the self-system that emphasizes proportioning, representing, and misrepresenting different aspects of the self (Markus & Hurl, 1987), interpersonal self-deception contributes to the development and fear of self-concept (Greenland, 1 980 Skidded & Crosslink, 1997), specifically the moral or altruistic aspects of self-concept relevant to social interactions and group living. Being altruistic and unselfish, and seeing others behaving likewise, is a core feature of colonization in most societies (Keller, Deleting , Sauerkraut, If-xi, & Ge, 2005).This colonization, in turn, shapes and reinforces individuals self-concept, specifically the moral self- concept. Interpersonal self-deception is thus vital to self-conception because t enables or facilitates the initialization of group or altruistic values that help form an individuals moral self-concept. Thus, there is a functional association between moral self-concept and self-deception regarding oneself highly in terms of theology and altruism necessitates that negative and selfish aspects of the self are inaccessible, and this is achieved through self- deception.In this respect, self-deception is necessary for, and instrumental to, the development and maintenance of moral oscilloscope. In other words, people attaining or maintaining high moral ground may be more self- exceptive and, thus, more successful in suppressing selfish thoughts, whereas people of low moral self-concept view themselves in less-than- optimal moral light because they are not inclined to deceive themselves about their selfish thoughts.Whether or not self-deception is used to maintain high moral ground may expect on ones ability to attend to inner thoughts and feelings, including the morally undesirable aspects of the self. Such self-consciousness, especially private self-consciousness, may serve to regulate self-deception. Highly self-conscious individuals are more aware of their inner self (Finessing et al. 1 975), including blemishes in their moral self- conception. To maintain the same level of moral self-concept, these individuals will require more interpersonal self-deception to suppress moral imperfections.In contrast, the moral self-concept of those low in self- consciousness may depend less on self-deception because they are less aware of their inner selves, including selfish thoughts and moral impurities. Thus, increasing self-consciousness may increase the strength of the correlation between moral self-concept and self-deception. To test t he hypothesis that self-deception facilitates the maintenance of oral self-concept by suppressing negative aspects of the self, the present study examined the associations among selections (SIDE), moral self- concept (MS), and self-consciousness (SC).We hypothesized a positive correlation between moral oscilloscope and self-deception. We also expected MS-SIDE association to be stronger among high, rather than low, self- conscious individuals. In addition to examining questionnaire measures, we also included another measure of self-deception by having subjects respond to different helping scenarios from which we derived two helping intention rabbles altruistic helping intention without self-benefit and self-deceived helping intention with potential self-benefit.