scholarly journals Belief Perseverance

Psychology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corey L. Guenther ◽  
Abigail M. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Impression Formation ◽  
Belief Systems ◽  
Judgment And Decision Making ◽  
Sufficient Evidence ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Research Areas ◽  
Moderating Factors ◽  
Belief Perseverance ◽  
The Social

People’s proclivity to passionately cling to, and advocate for, beliefs or attitudes that exist in the absence of evidentiary support manifests in a range of life domains, including politics, sports, the workplace, social media, and relationships, among others. In fact, this propensity to develop, maintain, and unwaveringly cling to one’s beliefs in the absence of sufficient evidence is one of the most well-established tendencies in the social-psychological canon. It is a tendency that contributes to numerous psychological effects, including those involved in impression formation, comparative bias, attitude persuasion, intergroup perception, and social judgment, to name a few. And just as importantly, this tendency also has significant implications for judgment and decision-making in critical applied domains, including politics, jury deliberation, and medicine. The area of research that most directly illustrates this tendency is that on belief perseverance. Initially documented in the 1960s, belief perseverance refers to the tendency to maintain held beliefs even when the evidence supporting such beliefs is fully invalidated. It is the most extreme manifestation of espousing attitudes or belief systems in the absence of objective support—they are not merely beliefs based on evidence that is difficult to muster or verify, but rather, they are beliefs that persist despite their very evidential foundation being fully discredited as factually false. Since its initial conceptualization, research on belief perseverance has explored various mechanisms underlying the effect, moderating factors that influence the effect’s strength, and applied domains where belief perseverance has direct implications for judgment and decision-making. This bibliography explores the belief perseverance literature and is divided into six sections. General Overviews contains written works that provide a broad overview of the belief perseverance phenomenon. Seminal Demonstrations contains empirical articles considered to be seminal demonstrations of the belief perseverance effect. Explanatory Mechanisms includes studies that highlight key mechanisms driving belief perseverance, while Moderating Factors reviews boundary conditions that exacerbate or limit the strength of belief perseverance effects. Finally, Applied Investigations reviews articles exploring implications of belief perseverance in political, academic, judicial, and entertainment domains, while Related Perspectives discusses research areas closely related to, yet distinct from, belief perseverance in the social psychological literature.

Human-Animal Studies, G.H. Mead, and the Question of Animal Minds

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy J. Gallagher†
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Animal Studies ◽  
Conscious Awareness ◽  
Symbolic Language ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Animal Minds ◽  
Contemporary Science ◽  
The Social ◽  
Human Animal ◽  
Contemporary Approach

In the field of human-animal studies (has), also known as anthrozoology, the question of nonhuman animal minds is central. During the first three decades of the 20th century, the social psychological G.H. Mead was among the first to take an explicitly contemporary approach to the question of mind in nature. Mead’s approach to the question of the nature of mind is consistent with contemporary science. His approach was characterized by empiricism, interdisciplinarity, comparative behavior and anatomy, and evolutionary theory. For Mead, symbolic language was required for mind as he defined it. This stipulation has been called into question by scholars today. The evidence for the nature of animal minds today suggests that a symbolic language is not required for conscious awareness, deliberation, and decision making. Nonetheless, Mead has an historical relevance to the field ofhasfor both the breadth of his work on the nature of consciousness, his contemporary approach, and the fact that some of his insights could be useful to contemporary scholars who are exploring the nature of mind, both human and nonhuman.

Theory in Social Psychology: Seeing the Forest and the Trees

2004 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaacov Trope
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Scientific Inquiry ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Social Judgment ◽  
Judgment And Decision Making ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Social Situations ◽  
Psychological Theories

The phenomena social psychology seeks to explain–how people think, feel, and act in response to social situations–are rich and diverse. Therefore, explanatory power, the simplicity of a model relative to its empirical scope, is an important desideratum for social psychological theories. A model achieves high explanatory power to the extent that it integrates narrower models within a unified conceptualization, reconciles conflicting findings, and makes novel predictions regarding specific phenomena. This article first relates explanatory power to the various facets of scientific inquiry (modeling, derivation, observation, evaluation, and decision) and then discusses this criterion as a guide for 2 theory-based lines of research my colleagues and I have conducted in the area of social judgment and decision making.

scholarly journals The Social Costs of Sounding Gay: Voice-Based Impressions of Adoption Applicants

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabio Fasoli ◽  
Anne Maass
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Judgment And Decision Making ◽  
Parenting Skills ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Adoption Studies ◽  
Total N ◽  
Vocal Cues ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Social ◽  
Opposite Tendency

In three studies (total N = 239) we examined the unexplored question of whether voice conveying sexual orientation elicits stigma and discrimination in the context of adoption. Studies 1 and 2 were conducted in Italy where same-sex adoption is illegal and controversial. Study 3 was conducted in the United Kingdom where same-sex adoption is legal and generally more accepted. The three studies show that listeners draw strong inferences from voice when judging hypothetical adoption seekers. Both Italian and British listeners judged gay-sounding speakers as warmer and as having better parenting skills, yet Italian participants consistently preferred straight over gay-sounding applicants, whereas British participants showed an opposite tendency, presumably reflecting the different normative context in the two countries. We conclude that vocal cues may have culturally distinct effects on judgment and decision making and that people with gay-sounding voices may face discrimination in adoption procedures in countries with antigay norms.

Purposes and methods

2001 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 403-403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Baron
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Judgment And Decision Making ◽  
The Social

The methods of experiments in the social sciences should depend on their purposes. To support this claim, I attempt to state some general principles relating method to purpose for three of the issues addressed. (I do not understand what is not a script, so I will omit that issue.) I illustrate my outline with examples from psychological research on judgment and decision making (JDM).

scholarly journals How Travel Earns Us Bragging Rights: A Qualitative Inquiry and Conceptualization of Travel Bragging Rights

2020 ◽  
pp. 004728752096459
Author(s):  
Hongbo Liu ◽  
Xiang (Robert) Li
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Personal Values ◽  
Qualitative Inquiry ◽  
The Self ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
The Social ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Travel Decision ◽  
Depth Interviews

Travel bragging rights have become an important factor influencing travel decision making in the social media era, yet research on this topic remains scant in the tourism literature. The present study attempted to answer the question “What constitutes travel bragging rights?” from tourists’ perspectives using in-depth interviews and means–end analysis. A comprehensive conceptualization of travel bragging rights was provided. Specifically, we identified seven dimensions of travel bragging rights. These dimensions are located on a continuum between a focus on the self and a focus on the audience and serve several social psychological functions reflecting social media posters’ (those who post content on social media) personal values. The conceptualization of travel bragging rights highlights the perception gaps between travel posters and the audience. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

scholarly journals The Politics of Cost-Benefit Analysis

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niek Mouter
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Belief Systems ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Sensitivity Analyses ◽  
Statistical Relation ◽  
Benefit Analysis ◽  
Value Judgments ◽  
The Social ◽  
Political Decisions

Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is a widely used economic appraisal method that aims to support politicians in making decisions about projects and policies. Several researchers have tried to uncover the extent to which CBA actually impacts decision-making by investigating the statistical relation between the results of CBA studies and political decisions. Although these studies show that there is no significant statistical relation between the outcomes of CBA studies and political decisions, there is clear evidence that the institutionalization of CBA affects the planning and decision-making process within the bureaucracy. Civil servants, for instance, use CBAs to government projects in the early phases of the planning process. The literature identifies various barriers that hamper politicians’ use of CBA when forming their opinion. First, politicians often receive results of CBA studies too late in the process. When politicians receive a CBA after they already made up their mind and communicated their viewpoint, the chance is low that the results of the CBA will (substantially) influence their decision. A second important barrier that limits the use of CBA by politicians is that they do not have enough trust in CBA’s impartiality. A third barrier is that politicians contest value judgments implicit in CBA. The literature distinguishes six ideological value judgments that inevitably need to be made when conducting a CBA: (a) Which individuals have standing in a CBA? (b) Which preferences have standing in a CBA? (c) Which procedure is used to value impacts? (d) On which dimensions are standard numbers differentiated? (e) Which weight is assigned to preferences of individuals in the social welfare function? (f) Which approach is adopted to select the social discount rate? The implication of the fact that CBA analysts cannot escape from making value judgments when conducing the study is that CBA is currently a problematic tool for democratic decision-making because, when applied in practice, the analysis is based on a specific set of politically loaded premises that fosters (damages) the interests of politicians (not) endorsing these premises. It is possible to overcome this problem through informing politicians about the extent to which switching value judgements leads to different CBA outcomes. The introduction of so-called normative sensitivity analyses safeguards that politicians with different belief systems are equally equipped to use the results of a CBA to arrive at a well-founded evaluation of a government project.

Providing Freshmen with a Good “Starting-Block”

2019 ◽  
Vol 78 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 69-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikaël De Clercq ◽  
Charlotte Michel ◽  
Sophie Remy ◽  
Benoît Galand
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
Student Adjustment ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Pivotal Phase ◽  
Study Program ◽  
Study Task ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Belonging ◽  
Intention To Persist

Abstract. Grounded in social-psychological literature, this experimental study assessed the effects of two so-called “wise” interventions implemented in a student study program. The interventions took place during the very first week at university, a presumed pivotal phase of transition. A group of 375 freshmen in psychology were randomly assigned to three conditions: control, social belonging, and self-affirmation. Following the intervention, students in the social-belonging condition expressed less social apprehension, a higher social integration, and a stronger intention to persist one month later than the other participants. They also relied more on peers as a source of support when confronted with a study task. Students in the self-affirmation condition felt more self-affirmed at the end of the intervention but didn’t benefit from other lasting effects. The results suggest that some well-timed and well-targeted “wise” interventions could provide lasting positive consequences for student adjustment. The respective merits of social-belonging and self-affirmation interventions are also discussed.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document