Self-Deception

Self-Deception

a. Outline the findings of Lopez and Fuxjager. (6 pts)

1. What are two themes that are common to examples of self-deception? (1 pt)

That self-deception eventually leads to a positive self-perception; one meaning of this is that the person actually believes that the false idea they believe in is true, they will be more convincing to whoever they are trying to convince

A positive self-perception may increase an individual’s fitness, meaning it has the ability to increase reproductive success or adaptation

2. Define twisted self-deception. What is the role of desire in twisted self-deception? (2 pts)

Twisted self-deception is when a self-deceiver starts to believe something negative about him or herself.

The role of desire in twisted self-deception is when the believer desires that something not to be true, but they self-deceive themselves into believing it anyway

3. In terms of arguing that self-deception is an adaptation, what is the importance of the winner effect being inherently linked to social hierarchies? (1 pt)

It is important because it helps to establish peoples places in social groups, i.e. alphas in social settings, especially among mammals like humans and baboons

Most importantly it increases individuals fitness

4. How does the winner effect relate to self-deception? (1 pt)

It relates to self-deception because the more times the individual has won, the more times they will continue to win. It boosts the confidence of the person fighting if they’ve won before, giving them a more probable outcome

5. How does the winner effect influence future decisions? (1 pt)

It effects the future because the individual who may be fighting can better assess a decision about whether or not the fight will be worth it

b. Outline the findings of Hayashi, et al. (7 pts)

6. In your own words, what does Hayashi, et al say is the relationship between moral judgments and forgiveness? (1 pt)

The relationship between moral judgements and forgiveness depends on the moral severity of the deception by the deceiver. One is less likely to forgive based on how morally incorrect the deceiver was.

7. What is the significance in using a 4-point scale to look at forgivablilty? (1 pt).

The four point scale allows the forgiver to judge the forgivability of the deceiver on a scale between 1 and 4. The 1 is very forgivable and the 4 is unforgiveable.

8. It was concluded that “the left and right ventromedial prefrontal cortices play important but somewhat different roles in the forgiveness of moral transgressions involving deception.” What are these “somewhat different” roles? (3 pts)

The right side of the brain showed that there was no main effect of attitude and no interaction was found.

The left side showed significant interaction between the two as opposed to the right which showed none.

9. Hayashi, et al hypothesized that dishonesty in these scenarios would “activate regions responsible for social and affective processing.” Though they did find significant activation in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, they did not find any significant activation the amygdala. What could have been the reason for this (why didn’t they find any significant activation in the amygdala)? (1 pt)

The amygdala is only activated when the participant realizes they have been deceived

10. What neuroimaging technique did Hayashi, et al use in their study? When discussing future directions and limitations of the study, what technique do they suggest using? (include both technique used and technique suggested in your answer) (1 pt)

Hayashi used PET-scanning. The ability to find the difference between outcomes and actions must be taken into future consideration.

c. In your own words, define Type I and Type II errors, and give an example of each (from Shermer’s talk). (#11) (3 pts)

Type I - Rejecting a hypothesis when it is true. Type II – Not rejecting a hypothesis when it is wrong and the alternate hypothesis is right.

d. Using the Lopez article and Shermer’s TED Talk, briefly describe 3 ways self-deception can be beneficial. (3 pts)

12. In your own words, in what two ways can self-deception be seen as an adaptation? (2 pts)

Self-deception can be beneficial because it can boost your self-esteem, it can help boost your confidence in situations that may give you anxiety and allow you to do well in those situations. It can also help you assess future problems and give you the correct mental ammunition to tackle certain scenarios.

13. Summarize what Shermer says about a balanced “signal to noise ratio.” How is such a balance beneficial to us? (1 pt)

Signal to noise ratio can be described as how powerful a signal is, which would be considered something the individual wants to hear and the noise ratio would be the background noise, which the individual does not want to hear.

e. According to Hayashi, et al., what role does the mirror neuron system play in detecting deception? (2 pts)

14. The findings of the study relate the right ventromedial prefrontal cortex to one’s ability to detect deception. What function is this associated with this? (1 pt)

The main effect was the attitude of the perpetrator. The mirror neuron system reacts from the attitude of the perpetrator.

15. In your own words, briefly discuss the “perception-action hypothesis.” (1 pt)

This hypothesis suggests that information has 2 visual paths to go down. The first path is identifying the object an recognizing it in order to have a reaction. The second involves recognizing how close or far the object is

f. Describe the neurotransmitter dopamine’s role in self-deception and pattern recognition. (3 pts)

16. Identify the relationship between dopamine and patternicity (include direction). (1pt)

Dopamine produces positive or negative emotions based on our experiences in the past. Based on what we have experienced, the dopamine will produce positive or negative results for future encounters based on what has happened in the past.

17. What type of drugs would lead to a decrease in dopamine? Be specific in describing drug action (what does the drug do (classification of drug), and the effect on one’s tendency to see patterns). (1 pt)

To decrease dopamine levels one would need to take depressants. As anti-depressants increase dopamine and serotonin, depressants do the opposite. The ability to see patterns would decrease if dopamine levels decreased because the reaction to patterns is based on the ability to release dopamine. Without the release of dopamine there can be no pattern recognition.

18. What type of drugs would lead to an increase in dopamine? Be specific in describing drug action (what does the drug do (classification of drug), and the effect on one’s tendency to see patterns). (1 pt)

To increase dopamine one would take anti-depressants. The levels of serotonin and dopamine would increase which would also increase the ability to see patterns because dopamine must be released in order to detect patterns.