obvious risks but incredulous that there would be any risks. This is denial. This is another way in which we close off our senses to reality in order to create our own imagined reality. How does this process get started?
It is not until the age of about 18-24 months that we acquire the ability to recognize ourselves in a mirror. It is not until a couple of years later that we have a sense that our own beliefs can sometimes differ from others that we interact with. It is not until this time that we develop the capacity to deceive, along with a powerful suite of social emotions that enable us to feel embarrassed, envious, and elated. These feelings link up our sense of self with our sense of others. These are comparative feelings and beliefs, and they feed back to who we are, either building up our self-confidence or crushing it. When my daughter Sofia was ten years old, she announced that she will one day go to Brown University — attracted by their course offerings and the fact that Emma Watson, aka Hermione Granger of Harry Potter fame, was a student — be rich and have five children — she wanted more siblings and has always had a taste for the luxurious — obtain a veterinarian degree — my wife is a veterinarian and we have five pets — open a restaurant — I love to cook— and be an Olympian in gymnastics — sports run in our family. Sofia was not delusional, but brimming with uncalibrated confidence. Her confidence was uncalibrated because she had no sense of what it takes to get into Brown, become rich, take care of five kids, obtain a vet degree, open a restaurant, and win gold. My wife and I would be horrid parents if we burst her bubble. We would be irresponsible parents if we didn’t, over time, describe the exciting challenges associated with each of these desirable goals.
Developing a sense of self depends on at least two capacities: looking inwards at what we know and are capable of doing, and looking outwards at what others know and are capable of doing. When we look inwards, if we honestly open our eyes to the richness of our autobiography, we will recognize cases where we have succeeded and those in which we have failed. This history reveals our knowledge and ignorance, our strengths and weaknesses, and our capacity to exert control or meld to external forces. When we look outwards, again with an honest, panoramic perspective, we learn about those who know more or less than we do, about those we can outcompete and those we lose to in defeat, and about situations that undermine our capacity for self-control. Distortion enters these personal narratives when we either lack information or filter it in some way, consciously or unconsciously.
The British criminology scholar Mandeep Dhami examined positive illusions in criminals incarcerated in prisons within the United States and the United Kingdom. Because recidivism levels are high among convicted criminals, with 40-60% of offenders re-convicted after 1-3 years from release, it is important to understand risk factors. One possibility is that criminals believe that their prior offense was just a one-off event or bad luck, and that, of course, they will never engage in crime again, having learned
their lesson and feeling fully confident in their capacity to lead a crime-free life. Based on a sample of
Hauser Chapter 3. Ravages of denial 112
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_012858