Any scientific theories on why humans suffer from self delusion?

by sleepy 9 Replies latest jw friends

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  sleepy

  I would have to say that in my experience , all humans suffer from a certain level of self delusion.Hey its normal.From the man who will never admit he's wrong, the croaky singer who thinks she's a opera star , the "model" with the looks of the back end of a pig, and JW's who are the only true religion.

  So do we have an in built self delusion programe?Is it helpful in anyway to delude overslves as to our weeknesses?

  Maybe being constantly aware of all our faults would be too much for us to handle,causing us to go bananas.Our brain may need to introduce a level of stability in our lives and wont let us be "weak'nd" by discovering we belive a false piece of information our idea about ourself that if revealed to the conscious mind could causes severe disruption to our lives.Prehaps pride is the bodies weapon against stress caused by negative truths.

  Any thoughts?
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  Mary

  Here's the most likely reason:
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  ashitaka

  So do we have an in built self delusion programe?Is it helpful in anyway to delude overslves as to our weeknesses?

  I think it's just that people need to have something unreal in their lives to ease their pain. They don't know how to do it in a normal fashion, and they're willing to delude themselves to feel better.

  ash
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  drwtsn32

  Definitely... having a bloated opinion of ourselves is indeed an evolutionary advantage. Those with bloated opinions are more confident. People are generally attracted to those with confidence. Hence, a confident person will be more likely to procreate and pass on the genes that lead to hightened egoism.

  Natural selection has removed most of the humility genes from the human genome. Nice guys finish last and rarely get laid.
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  BluesBrother

  Natural selection has removed most of the humility genes from the human genome. Nice guys finish last and rarely get laid.

  There's a sad thought, I hope it is not true.

  Perhaps the word is Egocentricity. Just lacking the ability to see the world from someone elses eyes. That sort of person is readymade for the dubs, after all everyone else is so stupid or even wicked that they deserve to get slaughtered at the big A, Right??

  "If the Society dont say it then it cannot be true" - Thank goodness we have moved on from that point of view. But that is because we are different from the poor saps who remain with blinkers on in the Borg .

  To some extent, we can all have personal delusions, I believe "My" football team are the best in the land. and l would never listen to logical argument that disproves it. But that is just a harmless diversion from reality of life .

  Real delusions can rob us of a happy life and lose us a lot of friends
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  jgnat

  Read up on Cognitive Dissonance. The harder you push a person out of their delusion, the harder they will hang on to it.

  The way a Witness "freezes up" when challenged reminds me of Isaac Asimov's Laws of Robotics. Caught between two invoilate rules of living, a witness starts spouting "I know it is the truth, I know it is the truth" like a good little robot. Kind of a scary thing to see.
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  Mecurious?

  Natural selection has removed most of the humility genes from the human genome. Nice guys finish last and rarely get laid.

  Unfortunately, very true!
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  Satanus

  Eric hoffer (the true believer) also agrees w the above hypotheses. This confirms just how wierd (unnatural?) our existence really is.

  SS
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  DanTheMan

  We are clever apes that have the unbearable burden of being consciously aware of our mortality. Existence is much too painful and wretched for us to be able to face squarely. Hence the seemingly endless variety of dysfunctional behavior among humans. We have to delude ourselves to mask the sheer vanity of our existence.

  Dan. in-a-very-dark-existential-mood class.
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  run dont walk

  yes, when they are brought up as jehovah's witnesses.