Steven Pinker -- How the Mind Works - Hampshire High Italian ...

Hotheads | 423But that's not right: there is no contradiction between the proposition"The task is boring" and the proposition "I was pressured into lying thatthe task was fun." Another social psychologist, Eliot Aronson, nailed itdown: people doctor their beliefs only to eliminate a contradiction withthe proposition "I am nice and in control." Cognitive dissonance isalways triggered by blatant evidence that you are not as beneficent andeffective as you would like people to think. The urge to reduce it is theurge to get your self-serving story straight.Sometimes we have glimpses of our own self-deception. When does anegative remark sting, cut deep, hit a nerve? When some part of usknows it is true. If every part knew it was true, the remark would notsting; it would be old news. If no part thought it was true, the remarkwould roll off; we could dismiss it as false. Trivers recounts an experiencethat is all too familiar (at least to me). One of his papers drew apublished critique, which struck him at the time as vicious and unprincipled,full of innuendo and slander. Rereading the article years later, hewas surprised to find that the wording was gentler, the doubts more reasonable,the attitude less biased than he had remembered. Many othershave made such discoveries; they are almost the definition of "wisdom."If there were a verb meaning "to believe falsely," it would not have anysignificant first person, present indicative.—Ludwig WittgensteinThere's one way to find out if a man is honest: ask him; if he says yes, youknow he's crooked.—Mark TwainOur enemies' opinion of us comes closer to the truth than our own.—Francois La RochefoucauldOh wad some power the giftie gie usTo see oursels as ithers see us!—Robert BurnsJN o one can examine the emotions without seeing in them the source ofmuch human tragedy. I don't think we should blame the animals; it's