Skip to main content
Log in

Modeling self-deception within a decision-theoretic framework

  • Published:
Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Computational modeling of human belief maintenance and decision-making processes has become increasingly important for a wide range of applications. In this paper, we present a framework for modeling the human capacity for self-deception from a decision-theoretic perspective in which we describe an integrated process of wishful thinking which includes the determination of a desired belief state, the biasing of internal beliefs towards or away from this desired belief state, and the final decision-making process. Finally, we show that in certain situations self-deception can be beneficial.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Aronson E. (1968) Dissonance theory: Progress and problems. Contemporary Issues in Social Psychology 2: 310–323

    Google Scholar 

  2. Bell D.E. (1982) Regret in decision making under uncertainty. Operations Research 30(5): 961–981

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  3. Bickmore T., Gruber A., Picard R. (2005) Establishing the computer–patient working alliance in automated health behavior change interventions. Patient Education and Counseling 59(1): 21–30

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Cialdini, R. B. (2001). Influence: Science and practice. Allyn and Bacon.

  5. Demos R. (1960) Lying to oneself. The Journal of Philosophy 57(18): 588–595

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Einhorn H.J., Hogarth R.M. (1986) Decision making under ambiguity. The Journal of Business 59(4): 225–250

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Ellsberg, D. (1961). Risk, ambiguity, and the savage axioms. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 643–669.

  8. Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance (Vol. 1, pp. 65–86). Evanston, IL: Row, Peterson.

  9. Gratch J., Marsella S.C. (2004) A domain-independent framework for modeling emotion. Cognitive Systems Research 5(4): 269–306

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Kunda Z. (1990) The case for motivated reasoning. Psychological Bulletin 108(3): 480–498

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Lazarus R.S. (1991) Emotion and adaptation. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  12. Loomes G., Sugden R. (1982) Regret theory: An alternative theory of rational choice under uncertainty. The Economic Journal 92(368): 805–824

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Luce R.D., Raiffa H. (1957) Games and decisions. Wiley, New York

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  14. Marsella, S. C., & Gratch, J. (2003). Modeling coping behavior in virtual humans: Don’t worry, be happy. In Proceedings of the second international joint conference on autonomous agents and multiagent systems (pp. 313–320).

  15. Marsella, S. C., Pynadath, D. V., & Read, S. J. (2004). PsychSim: Agent-based modeling of social interactions and influence. In Proceedings of the international conference on cognitive modeling (pp. 243–248).

  16. Mele A.R. (1997) Understanding and explaining real self-deception. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 20(01): 127–134

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Mele, A. R. (2000). Self-deception unmasked. Princeton University Press.

  18. Pimentel, C. F., & Gravo, M. R. (2005, December 5–8). Affective revision. In Progress in artificial intelligence: 12th Portuguese conference on artificial intelligence, EPIA 2005, Covilhã, Portugal, Proceedings.

  19. Pynadath, D. V., & Marsella, S. C. (2005). PsychSim: Modeling theory of mind with decision-theoretic agents. In Proceedings of the international joint conference on artificial intelligence, (pp. 1181–1186).

  20. Talbott W.J. (1995) Intentional self-deception in a single coherent self. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 55(1): 27–74

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Tversky A., Kahneman D. (1979) Prospect theory: An analysis of decision under risk. Econometrica 47(2): 263–292

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jonathan Y. Ito.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Ito, J.Y., Pynadath, D.V. & Marsella, S.C. Modeling self-deception within a decision-theoretic framework. Auton Agent Multi-Agent Syst 20, 3–13 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10458-009-9096-7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10458-009-9096-7

Keywords

Navigation