Preference Falsification

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Preference falsification is the act of misrepresenting one's wants because of perceived social pressures. It aims specifically to manipulate the perceptions of others about one's motivations or dispositions. You may express your private preference to your spouse, to a close friend, and in public, project a very different preference. That's preference falsification.

We all self-censor at times. We keep quiet at dinner with our in-laws, or nod passively in a work meeting. But what happens when we take this deception a step further, and pretend we believe the opposite of what we really feel? In this favorite episode from 2020, economist and political scientist Timur Kuran explains how our personal, professional and political lives are shaped by the fear of what other people think.

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