self-deception.

The process or condition of maintaining a misleading belief about oneself or a matter despite reasons to question it.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• motivated self-deception
• self-deception about motives

On the page

The narrator’s self-deception allowed him to describe a calculated choice as an accident.

The essay examined self-deception about motives without assuming that the person consciously planned the misleading belief.

Usage notes

Primary category: psychology / character / human behavior. Forms: Usually uncountable. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: characterization, motivation analysis, behavioral comparison, qualification. Disciplines: psychology, social behavior, character writing. Commonness: moderately common.