ABSTRACT
Self-deception has traditionally been viewed by psychologists and philosophers as a strategy that people adopt to protect themselves from a psychologically threatening reality. In this sense, self-deception is classically considered an intrapersonal process that defends the individual. In keeping with the theme of this volume on social thinking and interpersonal behavior, we argue instead that self-deception evolved for the interpersonal purpose of facilitating the deception of others. Thus, in this sense self-deception might be considered to have evolved for offensive rather than defensive purposes. Additionally, we propose that self-deception also benefits deceivers by enabling them to lie without the costly cognitive load induced by holding truth and lie simultaneously in mind and by minimizing retribution if their lies are discovered. Thus, despite its seeming irrationality, self-deception might indeed reveal a “deep rationality” based on its interpersonal consequences (see Kenrick, Li, White, & Neuberg, this volume).
