Expect denials ("saying it isn't so") to include both deliberate lying to others and self deception. For example, denying that something is, or is bad, or is not that bad, or denying responsibility ("I didn't do it") or intent ("I didn't mean it"). Wishful thinking, alibis, and excuses are also common ways people deny reality, deceive themselves, downplay their own "bad." || See also : the dynamics of denials; "plausible deniability"; "implicatory denial"