Date of Graduation
7-2020
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts in Philosophy (MA)
Degree Level
Graduate
Department
Philosophy
Advisor
Eric Funkhouser
Committee Member
Warren Herold
Second Committee Member
David Barrett
Keywords
Intentionalism, Self-Deception, Self-Handicapping
Abstract
In this thesis, I present a novel example of intentional self-deception as embodied in self-handicapping behavior. Self-handicapping is the proactive construction or acquisition of some obstacle to success in some domain, and is employed by individuals primarily as a means of deflecting blame for a failure or negative outcome. I argue that this behavior stands in a mutual, symbiotic relationship to self-deception. On the one hand, self-handicapping is the behavioral instantiation of the biased evidence manipulation which facilitates self-deception; while on the other hand, self-handicapping effectively functions to bias judgments in this way only in case concurrent self-deception sustains the behavioral process. If my account is accurate, the findings support Intentionalist theories of self-deception, broadly, but also highlights behavioral self-handicapping as a phenomenon worthy of philosophical attention.
Citation
Hallam, K. T. (2020). When Down Looks Like Up: Self-Deceptive Self-Handicapping. Graduate Theses and Dissertations Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/3789