In his book Social Evolution, Robert Trivers enlarged on his1976 evolutionary theory of self-deception. Self-deception is hiding the truth from the conscious mind the better to hide it from others. In our own species we recognize that shifty eyes, sweaty palms and croaky voices may indicate the stress that accompanies conscious knowledge of attempted deception. By becoming unconscious of its deception, the deceiver hides these signs from the observer. He or she can lie without the nervousness that accompanies deception.
The God Delusion On page 184 Monday, November 5, 2012 @ 1:54pm