In-Mind search

Free Will in Social Psychology

... or not. We can measure or manipulate different levels of belief in it and see what consequences ensue.  Paulhus and Carey  (2009) ... free will, these studies suggest why society supports the false belief in it: Belief in free will contributes to prosocial, responsible ... / more

Exposing an Armed Criminal: What Can We Learn from Psychology and the Police?

... as we think. Even more surprising, one cannot truly play false with people by showing fake expressions, because there is always a chance ... may be a threat (The Sunday Times, 2006). There is a strong belief that, rather than finding the threatening object itself (e.g. a ... / more

Never give up: The persistence of misinformation effects

... misinformation is often easier said than done as false beliefs are particularly sticky. In this blog, I zoom in on the current ... et al., 2012). Bending backfire effects But belief perseverance can be more directly influenced by people’s pre-existing ... / more

Can you nonbelieve it: What happens when you do not believe in your memories?

... that the event actually happened, turning them from false memories into nonbelieved ones. Nonbelieved memories have ... the possibility that memory might exist without accompanying belief. Are Nonbelieved Memories Really Rare? In the first ... / more

From the Editors: On the Current State of Science Journalism

... is poor. Take, for example, the surprisingly common belief that vaccinations cause autism , despite the overwhelming scientific ... journalists were doing their jobs well, then these pervasive false beliefs would not exist. As a psychologist, I am truly stunned and ... / more

Elephants and Donkeys Are Killing The United States: Why We Need Political Diversity

... within our ideological echo chambers increases our belief that the information is true and keeps us from questioning whether or ... understanding of the world is probably at least a little bit false. Each side is morally motivated, and we all must beware our own sacred ... / more

From Pervasive Beliefs To Wrongful Convictions

... light, the focus tends to be on the evidence which provided false support for the defendant’s guilt . The Innocence Project website ... to seek and interpret evidence in line with an existing belief, thereby paying disproportionately less attention to evidence that ... / more

Sorry, Not Sorry: Apologies and Denials in the #MeToo Movement

... of trust When someone is accused of misconduct, our belief in such allegations is a question of trust. Do we consider the ... regain the trust of others by claiming the allegations to be false (1). If the accused is successful in persuading their audience, the ... / more

Can We Believe in Our Own Lies?

... we will focus on how each deceptive strategy (i.e., false denials , feigned amnesia, and fabrication ) can influence memory ... small subset (10-16%) of participants revealed an increased belief in the occurrence of the lied about event. Polage further examined this ... / more

Learning styles: Why they don't exist but still persist

... their supposed sensory preferences. First, they may develop false theories about themselves and their learning behaviors that ultimately ... to apply this thinking in their own teaching. The persistent belief in learning styles weakens the credibility of educators and creates ... / more