Michele K. Surbey Shelby Johanson and Cindy Ung

Humans are self-aware and have theory of mind This also means we are more aware of our flaws and the unpleasant aspects of our world Self-awareness and processes like self-deception and repression have been subject to natural selection 

Gur and Sackeim (1979) – when two contradictory beliefs are held at different levels of consciousness. Mele (1997) – Avoidance of unpleasant information, or unintentionally and unconsciously viewing things in an unrealistically positive way Trivers (1976, 1985) – Active misrepresentation of reality to conscious mind, or biased information flow within an individual Kurzban and Aktipis (2007) – Self-deception is an outcome of preferentially choosing overly positive representations or biased perceptions of reality instead of more realistic depictions SCI – Social Cognitive Interface – System that stores representations relevant to social interactions

Surbey’s definition: Preferential accessing of overly positive or idealized representations or perceptions of the self, others, and the world Surbey’s definition: Preferential accessing of overly positive or idealized representations or perceptions of the self, others, and the world

Taylor and Brown (1988) – Keeps threatening thoughts out of consciousness and facilitates continued performance, motivation, and optimism in adverse conditions Trivers (1985) - Arms race between ability to deceive and detecting deception Surbey – may have evolved other evolutionary functions

Abramson and Martin (1981) and Sackeim (1983) - People who are depressed lack the normal capacity to self-deceive This lack of capacity to self-deceive in depressed people is compatible with many evolutionary theories of depression Surbey mentions five areas of evolutionary theories for depression

Bowlby (1969) – Depression is a reaction to a loss of a significant relationship Klinger (1975), Nesse (2000) - Adaptive means to conserve resources/energy in uncontrollable adverse stimuli Welling (2003) - Provide time-out so their cognitive maps, etc. can be updated

Price (1967) – Depression is a mechanism used by losers of social competitions Gilbert (2006) – Depression is for reducing further challenges to dominant individuals

Allen and Badcock (2003) – Depression serves to reduce social exclusion Reduces the risks of social exclusion in individuals that perceive that they have low social status or who are already experiencing social rejection

Hagen (2002,2003) – Depression is a means of bargaining and advertises an individual’s neediness

Intrusive and repetitive thoughts about problems in social relationships are typical of depression Watson and Andrews (2002) and Andrews and Thomson (2009) – Ruminations signify an increased focus on problem solving Depression is a way of attending, regulating, maintaining, and resolving social relationships with others who might not have the same fitness interests as you

Self-deception facilitates initiation and maintenance of reciprocal altruism People more likely to exhibit cooperative behaviors if they can’t access their own and others’ selfish motives and assume a norm of reciprocity Surbey and McNally (1997) – Higher self-deception associated with greater cooperation in Prisoner’s Dilemma game

Good model for reciprocal altruism and cooperation Two individuals choose to cooperate or defect Payoffs depend on choice made by competitor One trial versus multiple trials How can a cooperative relationship be initiated if, on any first or single trial, it is always better to defect?

Why? Because you would have to access positively biased representations of yourself and of other people High levels of SD predicted cooperation on PD

1. Retest relationship between depression and SD using two measures of SD 2. Test relationship between SD and conscious feelings associated with symptoms of depression 3. Replicate previous findings of association between SD and cooperation and examine the role of attributional styles and dispositional optimism 4. Examine relationship between depression and cooperation in social dilemmas based on PD game.

Induced negative mood or depression related with reduced cooperation in other types of games Results: depressed individuals in power position more likely to defect on cooperating partner than ‘normal’ individuals Problems: didn’t allow assessment of individuals with depression to cooperate or defect in mixed-motive social dilemmas

80 Undergraduates (23 male, 53 female). Queensland Australia years old (M=22.01) European descent Middle class Course credit awarded Participants

Self Deception Questionnaire Paulhus Deception Scales Attributional Style Questioning Beck Depression Inventory II Life Orientation Test Prisoner’s dilemma game vignettes Measures

Self Deception Questionnaire (SDQ) 20 psychologically threatening, but generally true statements. Denial indicates self deception – taps tendency to deny unflattering or negative information Paulhus Deception Scales (PDS) 40 questions measuring socially desirable responses SDE: Subconscious attempt to look more agreeable Secondary measure of self deception IM: Conscious tendency to manage reputation Control for impression management Measures – Self deception

Beck Depression Inventory II 21 questions indicating severity of depression. Attributional Style Questioning Causal interpretation of 12 situations. Locus of control, stability, globility, and personal control. 7 styles The important ones are OP (Optimism), SN (Stable Negative), and the three negative in general (CONEG: associated with learned helplessness) Used composite of 3 negative scores as depression measure. Life Orientation Test Measure of optimism and pessimism Measures - Mood

Prisoner’s dilemma game vignettes 4 hypothetical situations Relevant to undergrads. Match payoffs in classic game of prisoner’s dilemma. T>R>P>S “How would you respond in this situation?” Measures - Cooperation

Demographic variables were not significantly related with psychological measures Older participants had lower LPESS SES positively correlated with SE

Participants with high levels of depressive symptomology had reduced levels of SD SDQ and SDE modestly but significantly and positively intercorrelated Higher PDS scores correlated with lower depression scores Higher scores on IM associated with reduced levels of depression

High levels of negative attributional styles and low levels of positive biased cognitive styles associated with increased depressive symptomology Depressed individual didn’t show reduced overall internal locus of control or personal control Several attributional styles and dispositional optimism significantly related to depression Two measures of SD correlated with some but not all attributional styles and with LOPT

Reduced levels of each measure of SD along with SN independently predict greater depressive symptomology After accounting for these three measures, the remaining attributional styles did not contribute to the model

No significant correlations between measures of SD and intention to cooperate Higher self deceivers more likely to intend to cooperate than low self deceivers

Low SN and LPESS and high OP and IM related with higher intentions to cooperate Attributional optimism only significant predictor – accounts for 19% of variation

Scores on BDI-II ranged from 0-38 out of a possible 63. Average score: 11.64±8.30 ‘Minimal’ depression = 13 ‘Severe’ depression = 29 Tendency to cooperate: 4.86±0.77 Participants with more severe symptoms of depression showed reduced cooperation

Reduced levels of self deception in depression. High self deceivers... Feel less pain. Are less likely to see things that don’t “fit.” Card test Individuals with depressive symptoms are... more capable of detecting cheaters (more skeptical). more logical when confronted with anomalies, negative situations, and violations of social rules. Related Findings

SDQ and SDE Overlapping tests, yet only moderately correlated and predicted BDI independently. Self enhancement (in SDE) vs. denial (SDQ). Conscious management of image (IM) correlated with SDE and SDQ, but did not predict BDI. Attributional styles Correlation between SDQ/SDE and attributional styles. Negative styles and depressive symptoms. Stable Negative style and self deception explain 37% of variance in BDI-II scores. Notes on the measures

Lack of self deception seems to underlie the negative thinking of depressed individuals. Stable Negative (bad things are caused by things that won’t go away) also important. These factors may make individuals more vulnerable to depression. Self deception may be eroded by life events. Adaptive in that denial only works for so long. Attributional styles - interpretations

High self deceivers were more likely to cooperate in a game of prisoner’s dilemma. Only with SDQ, not SDE Possibly related to different aspects that they measure. Denial of possible negative responses by other person? When the stats got fancy... Neither SDQ not IM predicted cooperation! The best predictors were Optimism/belief that they had some control of the situation. IM was close to significant. Possibly related to “the illusion of control.” Cooperation

Hypothesis “...moderate tendency to self deceive is functional, promoting both mental health and reasonable levels of cooperation.” Support “The finding that mild depressive symptomology was related to both low levels of self-deception and cooperation supports this view.” Return to Hypothesis

Depression is maladaptive and results from low self deception (Nettle, 2004) Depression is adaptive - maintains social relations Bargaining tool (Hagen, 1999, 2002, 2003) Results show that depressed people do withhold cooperation, supporting this view. Depression and defection are related: methods of dealing with adverse situations by withdrawing cooperation. Interpretations

People will be more forgiving of defection if the defector is depressed. Non depressed, high power individuals were more forgiving than depressed, high power individuals when playing with a depressed partner (Hokanson et al., 1980). Repeated exposure to negative events may reduce self deception and increase depression and defection. Predictions

Therapies adjusting thought to fit reality may not be effective. Instead, not thinking about negative thoughts, even if they match reality, may be a better strategy. Even so, if social problems are not resolved, the treatment will not have lasting effectiveness. Clinical Implications

Cooperation of a normal individual in a game of prisoner’s dilemma if the defecting player is seen as depressed. An experimental study, to tease out the causations they are hinting at. Play with actual people? Test hypothesis in realistic situation

Undergraduate subject pool. Methods consisted of a huge stack of tests. Their conclusions and ponderings do not always appropriately follow their findings. Depression includes lack of activity. Does cooperation fall into this?