From the bestselling author of Emotional Intelligence comes a penetrating analysis of the many ways we deceive ourselves. Daniel Goleman draws on evidence of all kinds--from brain function to social dynamics--to reveal how we skew our most intimate relationships, our day-to-day lives, and our common reality by burying painful insights and memories. This self-deception is our means of psychic self-preservation, the currency of survival in which an entire society colludes. But although self-deception is sometimes benign, it can also be dangerous and life-diminishing. This important book both illuminates and raises challenging questions about a subject that is central to our psychological existence.