Cheaters believe they're that good, even when they're not

We all would like to think we're great, but this desire can get us into trouble. In fact, the brain is extremely good at convincing us, despite all the evidence, that we have lots of positive attributes. A new study in PNAS finds that people who have cheated on a test predict that they will do equally well on a future test in which know they cannot cheat, even if this prediction is costly.

First, the seventy-six participants—all MIT students—were asked to take an eight-question math test, then score themselves and report their performance. Half of the test-takers were given the opportunity to cheat by having access to the answer key on the bottom of the test. Then, both groups were asked to predict their performance on a second math test, with 100 questions and no answer key.

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