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Self-deception is the best way to deceive others, according to new research.

Researchers found that "self-deceived" or overly confident individuals are significantly more likely than their more realistic counterparts to reach influential positions in companies. "Self-deceived" individuals are also more likely to overestimate the abilities of others and take greater risks. Researchers said that these traits could create problems for the organizations they work for.

In fact, people who are less confident about their own abilities are perceived as less competent than their more confident counterparts.

Researchers said that latest study is the first to show that an individual's perception of their own ability and how others see their competence, and could partially explain recessions and other disasters.

The latest study involved 72 students who were asked to rate their own ability and the ability of their peers after the first day of class.

The study revealed that there was a positive correlation between the scores students predicted for themselves and the scores others predicted for them. The study revealed that students who predicted that they'd get higher scores were also perceived by others to receive higher scores. This was true regardless of the actual scores.

Interestingly, the opposite applied for students who were under confident.

"These findings suggest that people don't always reward the most accomplished individual but rather the most self-deceived," researcher Dr. Vivek Nityananda, of Newcastle University said in a news release.

"We think this supports an evolutionary theory of self-deception. It can be beneficial to have others believe you are better than you are and the best way to do this is to deceive yourself - which might be what we have evolved to do," Nityananda added. "This can cause problems as over confident people may also be more likely to take risks. So if too many people overrate themselves and deceive others about their abilities within organizations then this could lead to disastrous consequences such as airplane crashes or financial collapses."

"If over confident people are more likely to be risk prone then by promoting them we may be creating institutions, such as banks and armies, that are more vulnerable to risk," researcher Dr. Shakti Lamba, of The University of Exeter concluded in a statement.

The findings are published in the journal PLOS ONE.