The Totalitarian Self And The Biases Of Self-perception

Popular culture has already assimilated the interaction between personal tendencies and the influence of the environment. However, there are many theories prior to this conception that are, at best, curious to know. A good example is the theory of the totalitarian self.

In this article you can read about the theory of the totalitarian self, by Anthony Greenwald. The round of tortilla that he gives to the formation of ideas and perception of the world is fascinating. Let’s go with her.

The totalitarian self

The usual conception of the formation of ideas and of the subjective vision of the world is that the outside configures these as we have experiences. Our memory and thoughts would be the product of the interaction of our genetic tendencies with the influence of the environment. In this way, we build our history.

Well, as Greenwald postulated back in 1980, this totalitarian self would be in charge of keeping all this information that makes us up integrated.

How do you get it? The answer: through cognitive biases or , in other words, distorting how social information is processed to create memories and a concept of the self that is positive.

The reason for calling it totalitarian is, according to this theory, that the self biases and selects information in a similar way as a totalitarian government would. The processes that you will see below are very similar to the censorship that dictatorships use to maintain the image of need and goodness.

Cognitive biases in the totalitarian self

You may have already heard of cognitive biases: they can be defined as the systematic and misinterpretation of information when making judgments, making decisions or processing thoughts. Although this may seem a negative thing, its function is really adaptive, since it facilitates decision-making for survival. However, when it comes to social issues, they can be a real problem.

There are a multitude of cognitive biases described, but the totalitarian self would maintain self-concept through three main biases: self-centeredness, conservatism, and self-reliance bias. Below you can read carefully about each of them.

Egocentrism: the self as the protagonist

If a person is asked to tell us one of his memories, he will probably tell it as if he were the protagonist of a story. Even if the main events of the story happen to someone else, this person will tell how they affected him as a viewer.

That is, most of the knowledge that a person has about the world is autobiographical, since it is through experience that memories and learning are built. In fact, information is much more easily remembered when it concerns the self than when it relates to others. This is called the egocentric bias.

One of the consequences of this bias is the tendency to exaggerate one’s own contribution to the events that take place around us, even if the participation of others is not accurately remembered. In this way, the totalitarian self maintains the perception of that person is important to their environment.

The self-reliance bias

With this bias, it is possible to place the focus of responsibility for one’s own actions in a way that benefits the idea of ​​being efficient and capable. We can illustrate it with two examples:

• Put the focus on yourself when it comes to success: pass an exam studying the day before.
• Placing it in external circumstances or bad luck in failures: “I failed because I got sick and could not study.”

Therefore, the objective of this bias is to protect self-esteem and create a self-concept consistent with positive ideas about oneself. It also has protective value against the negative emotions that accompany failure. This creation of the positive self-concept and its protection is the trait that is shared with totalitarian regimes.

Conservatism or resistance to change

A self-esteem and a self-concept must be minimally stable to guarantee their coherence, since a changing or fragile identity is a reason for psychological discomfort for most. In general, changes in the realm of personality and identity are slow and consist of small steps that project a sense of stability.

Therefore, the totalitarian self would favor all the thoughts and judgments that help to confirm our identity, but not only that: since they are generally positive judgments, it would also be motivating the absence of change. As in an authoritarian regime, this preservation of the established is pursued.

Although the term “totalitarian” does not have a very good reputation, the intention of this theory is nothing more than to define the strategies that the mind follows when it comes to protecting our self-esteem. Needless to say, knowledge about these “tricks” is extremely helpful for introspection and being honest with yourself.

On the other hand, this theory was formulated sixty years ago, so certain details may not fit well in the current framework. The totalitarian self, paradoxically, has evolved over the years to adapt to current theories to, little by little and together, unravel the recesses of the mind.