Robert Kurzban talks about his book Why Everyone (Else) Is a Hypocrite: Evolution and the Modular Mind
"Why do so many people (not you, of course) have impossibly positive views of just how great they are? The usual answer among psychologists is “self-deception,” that because believing good things about ourselves makes us happy – and because we like to be happy – well, we believe good things about ourselves even if these beliefs conflict with other things that we know.There are a number of problems with this answer, not the least of which is that there is no “self” in your head somewhere to be deceived.
To get around these problems, I offer a different explanation. I argue that your mind consists of a large number of different “modules” – sort of like those little applications on a smart phone – that have different jobs. Some of these applications are in the propaganda business, designed to make you look as good to others as is plausible. As a consequence, these modules adopt certain beliefs that, while they might not be justified given what you actually know about your teaching skills, are useful because they can be used to persuade others about how great a teacher you are."
"Why do so many people (not you, of course) have impossibly positive views of just how great they are? The usual answer among psychologists is “self-deception,” that because believing good things about ourselves makes us happy – and because we like to be happy – well, we believe good things about ourselves even if these beliefs conflict with other things that we know.There are a number of problems with this answer, not the least of which is that there is no “self” in your head somewhere to be deceived.
To get around these problems, I offer a different explanation. I argue that your mind consists of a large number of different “modules” – sort of like those little applications on a smart phone – that have different jobs. Some of these applications are in the propaganda business, designed to make you look as good to others as is plausible. As a consequence, these modules adopt certain beliefs that, while they might not be justified given what you actually know about your teaching skills, are useful because they can be used to persuade others about how great a teacher you are."
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