As far as nature of humanity is concerned you pretty much make that argument, we are guided on so many levels by our adolescent evolutionary complexity that shaped us and don't even realize it for the most part. When people understand the collective "we" with all the culture and societal playground and think that means they know themselves it is misguided perception. It easy to think that we are in control, that we know how we would react in particular situations in life because we can project it with our simulation of reality by our mental capacity. In many ways it's an illusion albeit useful one. Self deception is a tool, it's powerful one at that, it allows you train other people to serve your purpose, spread ideas that might benefit the humanity or might benefit your own wealth. That's way we have a choice to be a cult leader or debunk pseudoscience. Our minds are to malleable to external ideas and that makes us a dangerous species capable to start wars, revolutions and tyrannies of the chosen few.