Texas Forensic Mental Health Conference Presenter: Dr. Salter Presentation: Fooling Ourselves #2

1. Deception:
How We Fool Ourselves
Anna C. Salter, Ph.D.

2. “I choose to believe there is good in
everyone because of the unintended
consequences to my life if I do not. I feel
an openness to others that wouldn’t be
there if I didn’t believe that there’s good in
everybody.”

3.  “I have a guardian angel that looks after
me.”
 “Everything happens for a reason.”
 “Things turn out for the best.”

4. Positive Illusions

5. Matlin & Stang.
The Pollyanna Principle.
1978
Summarized over 1000 studies

6. 1. When exposed to pleasant and
unpleasant experiences for equal periods
of time, people report the pleasant were
more frequent.
2. People remember pleasant information
better and more accurately than
unpleasant.
(Matlin and Stang, 1978)

7. 3. Pleasant information is easier to learn
than unpleasant.
4. People recognize pleasant words quicker
than unpleasant.
(Matlin and Stang, 1978)

8. 5. People exaggerate the likelihood of pleasant
events.
6. The pleasant member of antonym pairs is said
before the unpleasant, for instance, good-bad,
sweet-sour, right-wrong.
7. Pleasant words tended to enter the English
language first and have higher frequencies
than do unpleasant.

9. 8. People use positive terms far more often
than negative whether in writing or
speaking.
9. People slant their memories in a positive
direction over time.

10. 10. People think the present is better for
them personally than the past and the
future will be better still regardless of the
actual probabilities.

11. Rated Selves More Positively
than Peer of Same Sex and Age
87%
(Taylor, Lerner et al., Submitted for Publication)

12.  One’s Strengths Important
Rare
 One’s Failings Unimportant
Common
(Campbell, 1986; Marks, 1984)s

13. Time is on Our Side
Poor Performance
Remember as Better
20 Minutes Later
(Greenwald, 1980)

14. Feedback
 Positive Recalled Easily
Process Quickly
 Negative Hard to Recall
Processed Slowly
(Kuiper and Derry 1982; Kuiper and MacDonald
1982; Kuiper, Olinger et al. 1985)

15. Not Recent Phenomena
One month
Rated mood each day compared to Own
typical mood
Almost everybody
Typically happier than they typically are
(Johnson, 1938)

16. How does this apply to deception?

17. 20 Years of Research on Lying
 People rarely get above 60% accuracy
 Some groups worse than chance
(Ekman, 1992)

18. Who Can’t Tell
Secret Service
Federal Polygraphers
Judges
Police
Psychiatrists
Students
(Ekman, 1991)

19. Who Can’t Tell?
 Customs inspectors vs. college students)
(Kraut & Poe, 1980)
 Federal law enforcement officers vs students
(DePaulo & Pfeifer, 1986)
 Police officers no better than chance
(Kohnken, 1987)

20. Who Can’t Tell
Group % Above Chance
 Secret Service 29%
 Psychiatrists 12%
(Ekman, 1991)

21. “A man’s gotta know his limitations.”

22. Federal law enforcement officers
More Confident Than College Students
No More Accurate
(DePaulo & Pfeifer, 1986)

23. Confidence and Accuracy
Generally Unrelated
(Ekman, 1991)

24. Accuracy
What Didn’t Make a Difference
Age
Sex
Years of Job Experience
(Ekman, 1991)

25. Accuracy
Polygraphers & Secret Service
Worse as Got Older
(Ekman, 1991)

26. Accuracy
Secret Service
More Years of Job Experience
Worse Accuracy
(Ekman, 1991)

27. Believing What We Hear
Repeating It Increases Belief
(Arkes, Boehm et al.,1991; Arkes, Hacket et al.,
1989; Begg, Armour et al., 1985; Hasher,
Goldstein et al., 1977)

28. Believing What We Hear
Even believed statements which were
openly labeled false
(Gerrig and Prentice,1991; Gilbert, Krull et
al.,1990; Wegner, Lane et al., 1994)

29.  Count numbers in statements
 Some labeled true; some false
(Gilbert, Krull et al., 1990)

30. Results
Increased “False” labeled “True”
No Change in “True”
(Gilbert, Krull et al., 1990)

31. Old Debate – New Life
Spinoza
Comprehending is Believing
Descartes
Comprehend then Believe or Not

32. Stranger Approaches
Constant Talk
Too Many Details
Detraction
(De Becker, 1997)

33. Types of Positive Illusions
Control Over Random Events
World is Good and Meaningful

34. Control over Random Events
Prefer Lottery Card They Chose
Over
One with Better Odds

35. Control over Random Events
Athletes
Sports Fans
Gamblers

36. Personal Control & Aversiveness
Ability to Terminate Random Shocks
Less Distress
Less Discomfort
Less Physiological Arousal

37. A Just World
Blaming People for Outcome
Even if Randomly Assigned
(Lerner, 1978)

38. “The Lord is faithful to those who are faithful
to the Lord.”
(Miller and Tompkins, 1977, p. 86)

39. What is Mental Health?
Good Reality Testing?

40. Definition of Mental Health
 “Mentally healthy perception means a
process of viewing the world so that one is
able to take in matters one wishes were
different without distorting them to fit those
wishes.”
(Jahoda 1958, p. 349)

41. Effect of Self-Enhancement
Correlated with
Good Relations with Others
Personal Growth
Purpose in Life
Self-Esteem
Mastery
Self-Acceptance
(Taylor, in press)

42. Effect of Self-Enhancement
Negatively Correlated with
State Anxiety
Depression
Self-Blame
Neuroticism
(Taylor, in press)