The Effects on Anchoring of Increasing Quantities of Disconfirming Evidence

In this conceptual essay, the author argues that bad faith is a valuable concept in understanding and challenging racism in higher education. The philosopher Lewis Gordon argues that racism is a manifestation of bad faith. For the actor who sees Black people as less than human, for example, no evidence will allow the actor to see otherwise. Bad faith is the disavowal of any disconfirming evidence which allows actors to maintain their worldviews. The author draws from high profile examples of racism in higher education as conceptual cases to make his argument. Specifically, the author demonstrates how attacks upon Critical Race Theory in education, the currency of critiques of microaggressions research, and the perennial difficulty to name racist violence on campus as hate crimes operate upon a logic of racism through bad faith.

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Tax Professional Decision Biases: The Effects of Initial Beliefs and Client Preference

Journal of the American Taxation Association ◽

10.2308/jata.2004.26.s-1.1 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 26 (s-1) ◽

pp. 1-29 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Jennifer B. Kahle ◽

Richard A. White

Keyword(s):

Repeated Measures ◽

Confirmation Bias ◽

Substantial Effect ◽

Repeated Measures Design ◽

Initial Belief ◽

Client Preference ◽

Tax Professionals ◽

Psychology Literature ◽

Disconfirming Evidence ◽

Professional Judgments

While many studies have inferred confirmation bias in a tax decision-making context, the tax professional's initial belief has usually been the same as the client-preferred position. The objective of this study was to disentangle the effects of evidence direction (confirming or disconfirming evidence) and client preference on tax professionals' belief revisions following the examination of additional evidence. In a repeated-measures design, participants recorded an initial belief and a revised belief in response to two independent fact scenarios. Consistent with research related to auditors, but inconsistent with the psychology literature, the results of this study indicate that tax professionals react in a manner opposite to the predictions of confirmation bias, particularly when the evidence reviewed is counter to the client's wishes. Further examination reveals that the client preference has a more substantial effect on tax professional judgments when the evidence being reviewed confirms the professionals' initial beliefs than when it disconfirms their initial beliefs.

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Persuasion: The Art of Changing Worldviews

The American Economic Review ◽

10.1257/aer.20161441 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 109 (3) ◽

pp. 996-1031 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Simone Galperti

Keyword(s):

World View ◽

Sufficient Conditions ◽

Bayesian Framework ◽

Necessary And Sufficient Conditions ◽

Trade Offs ◽

Necessary And Sufficient ◽

Disconfirming Evidence ◽

Do So

Persuaders often face the task of changing their listeners’ world-view, which may involve conveying evidence that disconfirms that view. It has been shown, however, that people are often reluctant to change their worldviews. These aspects of persuasion cannot be captured in the standard Bayesian framework. The paper identifies the constraints, opportunities, and trade-offs of persuading people to change worldview. It finds necessary and sufficient conditions under which it is optimal for persuaders to do so. It also shows when and how they conceal disconfirming evidence and take advantage of their listener’s existing worldview. (JEL D82, D83, D91)

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Constancy scaling theory and the Mueller-Lyer illusion: More disconfirming evidence

Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society ◽

10.3758/bf03334232 ◽

1974 ◽

Vol 4 (3) ◽

pp. 168-170 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Richard Griggs

Keyword(s):

Scaling Theory ◽

Lyer Illusion ◽

Constancy Scaling ◽

Disconfirming Evidence

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Why dysfunctional expectations in depression persist – Results from two experimental studies investigating cognitive immunization

Psychological Medicine ◽

10.1017/s0033291718002106 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 49 (09) ◽

pp. 1532-1544 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Tobias Kube ◽

Winfried Rief ◽

Mario Gollwitzer ◽

Thomas Gärtner ◽

Julia Anna Glombiewski

Keyword(s):

Performance Test ◽

Cognitive Reappraisal ◽

Experimental Studies ◽

Healthy Individuals ◽

Performance Expectations ◽

Major Depressive ◽

Psychotherapeutic Interventions ◽

Disconfirming Evidence ◽

Negative Expectations

AbstractBackgroundResearch has revealed that negative expectations impact depressive symptoms. However, research on the change of dysfunctional expectations in depression is lacking so far. Therefore, the present research aimed to fill this gap by testing the hypothesis that people with the major depressive disorder (MDD), contrary to healthy individuals, maintain their expectations despite experiences that positively disconfirm expectations. Further, it was hypothesized that cognitive immunization (a cognitive reappraisal of the disconfirming evidence) is a mechanism underlying the persistence of expectations.MethodIn Study 1, we compared individuals with MDD (N = 58) to healthy individuals (N = 59). Participants worked on the same performance test and received standardized feedback that either confirmed or disconfirmed their initial performance expectations. In Study 2, we investigated the effects of cognitive immunization on expectation change among 59 individuals reporting elevated levels of depression by varying the appraisal of expectation-disconfirming feedback.ResultsResults from Study 1 show that in the expectation-disconfirming condition, healthy individuals changed their expectations, whereas individuals with MDD did not. No such difference between the two groups was found for expectation-confirming feedback. Results from Study 2 indicated that varying cognitive immunization impacted expectation change, thus suggesting a crucial role of cognitive immunization in expectation change.ConclusionsThese two studies indicated that individuals suffering from depression have more difficulties in changing their expectations after disconfirming experiences than do healthy individuals, and cognitive immunization might be a core mechanism underlying expectation persistence. Therefore, psychotherapeutic interventions should aim to inhibit cognitive immunization processes to enhance expectation change.

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Modernization Theory and the Formation of Modern Social Theories in England and America

Comparative Studies in Society and History ◽

10.1017/s0010417500008938 ◽

1978 ◽

Vol 20 (2) ◽

pp. 259-285 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Joyce Appleby

Keyword(s):

Third World ◽

Developed Countries ◽

Modernization Theory ◽

Less Developed Countries ◽

Social Theories ◽

Distinguished Scholar ◽

Disconfirming Evidence

‘Modernization theory’, Alexander Gerschenkron remarked recently, ‘obstructs rather than promotes the understanding of processes of econo- mic change’. Far from being a startling judgement, Gerschenkron's comment only signals that another distinguished scholar has joined the theory's detractors. The marked failure of modernization theory to predict how less developed countries would react to incentives for material advance explains the growing chorus of criticism. This indeterminate response from third world peoples has quite properly raised doubts about how well we understand what is involved in the reorientation of a society's habitual practices. The blight of disconfirming evidence, according to E. I. Eisenstadt, has now led to the abandonment of hope that breakdowns in modernization would be followed by resurgences towards modernity.

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