Today's post, No, Really, I've Deceived Myself was originally published on 04 March 2009. A summary (taken from the LW wiki):

 

Some people who have fallen into self-deception haven't actually deceived themselves. Some of them simply believe that they have deceived themselves, but have not actually done this.


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2 comments, sorted by Click to highlight new comments since: Today at 12:08 PM

My current reaction to situations like this one is more or less the following:

There are beliefs, and then there are the things that people say.

-- Geoff Anders

(Geoff seems to use "belief" to mean alief, more or less.)

Hypothesis: in many important cases someone with an alief tending toward not-A and a belief that A, will behave differently than someone otherwise similar who consistently endorses not-A. Assuming the belief that A came about in the right way, that's genuine self-deception.