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The cover of The Folly of Fools: The Logic of Deceit and Self Deception in Human Life

The Folly of Fools: The Logic of Deceit and Self Deception in Human Life

Robert Trivers

Why do we have marvelous sense organs to detect information only to distort it after it arrives?

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At a glance

Author
Robert Trivers

Why read it

  • You will weigh the evolutionary idea that we deceive ourselves the better to deceive others
  • You will spot where self deception may be at work in daily life, from financial schemes to politics
  • You will see how organizations wall off knowledge they would rather not have, as NASA did before the Challenger and Columbia disasters

Who it is for

  • A psychology reader curious why smart people believe flattering falsehoods
  • A leader who wants to catch bias in their own decisions
  • A reader interested in evolution applied to human behavior

Contents

  1. PREFACE
  2. CHAPTER 1 - The Evolutionary Logic of Self-Deception
  3. THE EVOLUTION OF SELF-DECEPTION
  4. DECEPTION IS EVERYWHERE
  5. WHAT IS SELF-DECEPTION?
  6. DETECTING DECEPTION IN HUMANS VIA COGNITIVE LOAD
  7. SELF-DECEPTION IS OLDER THAN LANGUAGE
  8. NINE CATEGORIES OF SELF-DECEPTION
  9. Self-Inflation Is the Rule in Life
  10. Derogation of Others Is Closely Linked
  11. In-Group/Out-Group Associations Among Most Prominent
  12. The Biases of Power
  13. Moral Superiority
  14. The Illusion of Control
  15. The Construction of Biased Social Theory
  16. False Personal Narratives
  17. Unconscious Modules Devoted to Deception
  18. THE HALLMARKS OF SELF-DECEPTION
  19. CHAPTER 2 - Deception in Nature
  20. THE COEVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLE BETWEEN DECEIVER AND DECEIVED
  21. FREQUENCY-DEPENDENT SELECTION IN BUTTERFLIES
  22. AN EPIC COEVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLE
  23. INTELLIGENCE AND DECEPTION
  24. FEMALE MIMICS
  25. FALSE ALARM CALLS
  26. CAMOUFLAGE
  27. DEATH AND NEAR-DEATH ACTS
  28. RANDOMNESS AS A STRATEGY
  29. DECEPTION MAY INDUCE ANGER
  30. ANIMALS MAY BE CONSCIOUS OF DECEPTION
  31. DECEPTION AS AN EVOLUTIONARY GAME
  32. A DEEPER THEORY OF DECEPTION
  33. CHAPTER 3 - Neurophysiology and Levels of Imposed Self-Deception
  34. THE NEUROPHYSIOLOGY OF CONSCIOUS KNOWLEDGE
  35. THE NEUROPHYSIOLOGY OF THOUGHT SUPPRESSION
  36. THE IRONY OF TRYING TO SUPPRESS ONE’S THOUGHTS
  37. IMPROVING DECEPTION THROUGH NEURAL INHIBITION
  38. UNCONSCIOUS SELF-RECOGNITION SHOWS SELF-DECEPTION
  39. CAN ONE HALF OF THE BRAIN HIDE FROM THE OTHER?
  40. IMPOSED SELF-DECEPTION
  41. IMPLICIT VERSUS EXPLICIT SELF-ESTEEM
  42. FALSE CONFESSIONS, TORTURE, AND FLATTERY
  43. FALSE MEMORIES OF CHILD ABUSE
  44. IS SELF-DECEPTION THE PSYCHE ’S IMMUNE SYSTEM?
  45. THE PLACEBO EFFECT
  46. CHAPTER 4 - Self-Deception in the Family—and the Split Self
  47. PARENT/OFFSPRING CONFLICT
  48. CASES OF EXTREME ABUSE
  49. GENOMIC IMPRINTING
  50. INTERNAL CONFLICT FROM OPPOSITELY IMPRINTED GENES
  51. PARENTAL MANIPULATION AND IMPRINTING
  52. THE EFFECT OF MARITAL CONFLICT ON GENETIC CONFLICT
  53. IMPRINTING AND SELF-DECEPTION
  54. DECEPTION IN CHILDREN
  55. PARENTAL EFFECTS ON CHILDREN ’S DECEPTION
  56. CHAPTER 5 - Deceit, Self-Deception, and Sex
  57. WHY SEX?
  58. TWO SEXES—TWO COEVOLVING SPECIES
  59. DECEPTION AND SELF-DECEPTION AT COURTSHIP
  60. WHOSE BABY IS IT?

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