Self-exempting beliefs are thoughts that a person holds which ‘exempt’ them from negative consequences.
For example, a large majority of smokers develop self-exempting beliefs that ‘it will never happen to me’. A smoker who runs every day and does not drink alcohol may think that they have less chance of developing lung cancer than the next smoker because their lifestyle ‘balances out’ the cigarettes. This is not true. Every smoker has the same risk of negative health outcomes associated with smoking as the next smoker.
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