ABSTRACT: Argues that (a) ego, or self, is an organization of knowledge; (b) ego is characterized by cognitive biases analogous to totalitarian information-control strategies; and (c) these totalitarian-ego biases function to preserve organization in cognitive structures. Ego's cognitive biases are egocentricity (self as the focus of knowledge), "beneffectance" (perception of responsibility for desired, but not undesired, outcomes), and cognitive conservatism (resistance to cognitive change). In addition to being evident in recent studies of normal human cognition, these 3 biases are found in actively functioning, higher level organizations of knowledge, exemplified by theoretical paradigms in science. The thesis that egocentricity, beneffectance, and conservatism act to preserve knowledge organizations leads to the proposal of an intrapsychic analog of genetic evolution, which in turn provides an alternative to prevalent motivational and information interpretations of cognitive biases.