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Understanding self-deception demands a co-evolutionary framework

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 February 2011

Steven W. Gangestad
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131. [email protected]://www.unm.edu/~psych/faculty/sm_gangestad.html

Abstract

The foundational theme of the target article is that processes of self-deception occur in a functional context: a social one through which self-deceptive processes enhance fitness by affecting an actor's performances. One essential component of this context not addressed explicitly is that audiences should have been selected to resist, where possible, enhancements falsely bolstered by self-deception. Theoretical implications follow.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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References

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