Re: The benefits of deception

deception and self- deception , need better definitions. The recent work suggests that denial. is localized in the brain. A restrictor of harmful information.- when knocked out. deception increases. i.e. knowing death is within 100 years. is a knock out. a defect in the restrictor seems to increase the likelihood of depression.

Jeffrey, you are absolutely right, the concept should be treated with care, and we should be working from clear definitions! I would like to separate the functional definition of deception (i.e. the description on the level of interaction between agents) from its implementation (i.e. how it is realized within the agent, and especially in the brain), and its purposes (gaining an advantage, protecting someone, maintaining a coherent self-image, coping etc.) and forms (lying, omission, over-emphasis, eristics, suggestion, denial, repression, ...).

On the functional level, I would characterize deception as the class of intentional behaviors that is directed upon self-deception changing the or denial, beliefs of this an becomes agent in more a way tricky, that the because deceiver parts does of the not agent himself will consider know (in factual. some In sense) the case that of the content that he makes himself believe is not factual, while on another level, he falls for the deceit.

There are many ways in which we can try to knock out denial as a coping behavior: we can increase awareness and familiarity (meditation, hypnosis, LSD, psychoanalysis...), reduce the anxiety that made the denial necessary (e.g., MDMA, benzodiazepines), eliminate mechanisms responsible for fear (e.g. blocking or lesioning the amygdala), reduce the pain produced by the anxiety/grief/... (e.g., opiates), dissociate situation representation and pain response(e.g. ketamine), re-direct attention, and so on. I am no psychiatrist, so my list is quite short :-) Each method of "knock-out" uses different mechanisms and will probably have different effects on the likelihood of depression, risk-taking, productivity, etc., because self-deception involves so many parts of the mind.

Cheers,

Joscha