Confabulation is a term used in psychology to describe a lapse or mistake in an individual’s memory. These little “slips” allow us to tell complete lies while simultaneously remaining under the impression that we are telling the truth; a synonymous phrase for this would be “honest lying.” For example, you might have made an unprotected left-hand turn into an oncoming stream of cars and thought afterward, “There were no cars coming!” No you idiot, you totaled your car. Obviously there were cars… for the one millionth time, sorry Mom and Dad. Left hand turns are not my thing.

Confabulation usually occurs as a result of traumatic events or serious mental illness, but part of me wonders if our brains are capable of subtly building deceptive thought processes in order to help us make decisions and cope with decisions we’ve already made.

Last week I had a Legal History midterm. I spent about 5 minutes reading the book and then left the library to walk to the bookstore because I had convinced myself that the reason I couldn’t focus was because I didn’t have a highlighter. Once I got there I realized that colorful flashcards would be more effective than white ones, that I hadn’t used erasable pens in years, that I needed one of those metal paper tray things for my desk, that I should buy some new UCSD paraphernalia and that a couple more candles for my room would make it a much more effective study environment.

I lied myself right into not studying at all. As it turns out, having flashcards that look like Mentos does not help you learn cases. Studying the cases helps you learn cases.

I am now extremely curious about and afraid of how many times I’ve lied to myself. Painting your nails will not help you decide what to do about that sticky social situation. Owning new shoes will not make you feel better about the fact that you still haven’t chosen where to live after finals.

Psychology now shows that the human brain has an incredible ability to synthesize happiness. That means that even if we make a choice that might not have resulted in the maximum amount of happiness (i.e. the wrong choice), our brain is able to deceive us into thinking that it was the right choice for any number of reasons (“the timing was off,” “everything happens for a reason,” “I had to get that out of my system”). This synthetic sense of comfort helps us cope with life.

Pretty strange to think about, eh?

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