Religion and Self-Deception

I just finished The Folly of Fools: The Logic of Deceit and Self-Deception in Human Life (Basic Books, 2011) by Robert Trivers, a Professor of Anthropology and Biology at Rutgers. The book covers a lot of ground, moving from deception as a strategy for plants and animals to human deception and self-deception to the role of deception and self-deception in human organizations, including government and religion. As humans, we are pretty good at sniffing out deception (aka lying) in others; self-deception is a human mental adaptation that makes the detection of deception more difficult and boosts self-confidence. I found the discussion of self-deception by organizations in the latter third of the book to be the most interesting material.