Self-Deception (1956)

From the June 1956 issue of the Socialist Standard

Of late years modern psychology, with its Freudian basis, has had considerable appeal for the shallow intellectual. It is so elevating, and causes so little cultural embarrassment, to stand before the mental mirror contemplating one's brain and imagining what one thinks it thinks it is thinking. Needless to say the reality is far from the loftiness of the conception. But it is a very self-satisfying game; puffs one's conceit without the toil of acquiring real useful knowledge, and, like the card-sharper's ability, acquires some financial gain and social standing from, what Barnum referred to as, "the mug that is born every day."

Gilmac.