Originally published: Orlando, Fla. : Harcourt, c2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. [239]-276) and index.
Contents:
Knaves, fools, villains and hypocrites : how do they live with themselves? -- Cognitive dissonance : the engine of self-justification -- Pride and prejudice-- and other blind spots -- Memory, the self-justifying historian -- Good intentions, bad science : the closed loop of clinical judgment -- Law and disorder -- Love's assassin : self-justification in marriage -- Wounds, rifts, and wars -- Letting go and owning up.
Summary:
Two distinguished psychologists look at the role of self-justification in human life, explaining how and why we create fictions that absolve us of responsibility and restore our belief in our intelligence, moral rectitude, and correctness; assess the potential repercussions of such a course of action; and reveal how it can be overcome.
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