Deception and self-deception, Nature Human Behaviour

https://phys.org/news/2019-07-people-overconfidence.html

Study: People may use overconfidence to persuade or deceive others:

A pair of researchers, one from the University of Munich, the other the University of Amsterdam has found that people may behave with overconfidence as a means to persuade or deceive other people. In their paper published in the journal Nature Human Behavior, Peter Schwardmann and Joël van der Weele describe a two-stage experiment they carried out with volunteers and what they found.

Scientists who study human behavior have found through various studies that most people tend to overrate their own abilities or characteristics. Most people think they are smarter than they actually are, for example. And most people seem to think they are better drivers than all the others on the road. But why is this? In this new effort, Schwardmann and van der Weele sought to find out if there might be an advantage to being overconfident—to that end, they carried out a two-stage experiment designed to reveal possible advantages.
more at link.....

the paper:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-019-0666-7

Deception and self-deception:

Abstract:

There is ample evidence that the average person thinks he or she is more skilful, more beautiful and kinder than others1,2 and that such overconfidence may result in substantial personal and social costs3,4,5,6,7,8. To explain the prevalence of overconfidence, social scientists usually point to its affective benefits, such as those stemming from a good self-image or reduced anxiety about an uncertain future9,10,11,12,13. An alternative theory, first advanced by evolutionary biologist Robert Trivers14,15,16, posits that people self-deceive into higher confidence to more effectively persuade or deceive others. Here we conduct two experiments (combined n = 688) to test this strategic self-deception hypothesis. After performing a cognitively challenging task, half of our subjects are informed that they can earn money if, during a short face-to-face interaction, they convince others of their superior performance. We find that the privately elicited beliefs of the group that was informed of the profitable deception opportunity exhibit significantly more overconfidence than the beliefs of the control group. To test whether higher confidence ultimately pays off, we experimentally manipulate the confidence of the subjects by means of a noisy feedback signal. We find that this exogenous shift in confidence makes subjects more persuasive in subsequent face-to-face interactions. Overconfidence emerges from these results as the product of an adaptive cognitive technology with important social benefits, rather than some deficiency or bias.

 

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just posting an article is all well and good, but maybe you could give a little bit of your own thoughts around some of the subject content so it doesn't appear like your just spamming add sales for some other web sites content.

simply copy n pasting content that is collated into a pop-science narrative for laymens comprehension can seem a bit dog-whistle-esque

content Vs literal accuracy ...
in psychology the content is the most important aspect
however, that doesn't mean one should be lazy when it comes to literacy, linguistics & correct grammar.
not to mention proof reading and editing.

the irony of potential trolling to include grammatical errors to bait for those seeking superiority is not missed either.

?

moving on with the subject

this makes me wonder about the nature of self deception being primary or secondary to external needs.
does the person seek to persuade them-self to be able to persuade others initially ?

 

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I've been posting articles that I believe are of interest on this forum, long before you arrived on the scene.
That will continue as and when I see fit.
My only thoughts on the gist of the article is that I believe it applies to a few here.

 

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your assertion of your feeling of being lacking of the right to free speech ?
i guess you missed my main point which was my question seeking your opinion of the article you posted.

you do not wish to discuss the subject ?

what ever feelings you have about feeling a sense of bias toward you are maybe transient in your opinion about other subjects ?

i am quit interested in these type of subjects, you may have miss aligned my intensity to be a negative projection of mine toward you.
i hold no bias toward you on the subject.

 

I guess I did.

Not my cup of tea really, just as I said, I saw it though as reasonably applicable to a few here. But hey, if you feel like commenting, great! be my guest.

If people have a bias towards me, that's their problem. Just so long as they abide by the rules.

 

Interesting, paddoboy. Humility is indeed, a lost art.

 

Are you posting this to justify/explain your posting style?

 

Wrong Bells, wrong, wrong, wrong.
I copied part of an article from...https://phys.org/news/2019-07-people-overconfidence.html and another link given to the paper of the same subject at the bottom, where I posted the abstract, not the entire thing....that link being DOI: 10.1038/s41562-019-0666-7 as I have always done.


I have no more comment to make on the article other then what I have already said, but if you care to trash it, be my guest!

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Well, may be we don't have access to the full article, do you?

The title: "People may use overconfidence to persuade or deceive others", didn't hit upon whether I'm lying to myself, to others, or both.

I think.

 

You mean the full paper? No I don't have access, and that is why I always post the abstract of the paper.

 

Well, be more obliged to make some comment.

The positive aspects (maybe not in an ideal) still outweigh a spam factor IMO.