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Epistemic beliefs’ role in promoting misperceptions and conspiracist ideation

Widespread misperceptions undermine citizens’ decision-making ability. Conclusions based on falsehoods and conspiracy theories are by definition flawed. This article demonstrates that individuals’ epistemic beliefs–beliefs about the nature of knowledge and how one comes to know–have important implic...

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Autores principales: Garrett, R. Kelly, Weeks, Brian E.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5603156/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28922387
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0184733
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author Garrett, R. Kelly
Weeks, Brian E.
author_facet Garrett, R. Kelly
Weeks, Brian E.
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collection PubMed
description Widespread misperceptions undermine citizens’ decision-making ability. Conclusions based on falsehoods and conspiracy theories are by definition flawed. This article demonstrates that individuals’ epistemic beliefs–beliefs about the nature of knowledge and how one comes to know–have important implications for perception accuracy. The present study uses a series of large, nationally representative surveys of the U.S. population to produce valid and reliable measures of three aspects of epistemic beliefs: reliance on intuition for factual beliefs (Faith in Intuition for facts), importance of consistency between empirical evidence and beliefs (Need for evidence), and conviction that “facts” are politically constructed (Truth is political). Analyses confirm that these factors complement established predictors of misperception, substantively increasing our ability to explain both individuals’ propensity to engage in conspiracist ideation, and their willingness to embrace falsehoods about high-profile scientific and political issues. Individuals who view reality as a political construct are significantly more likely to embrace falsehoods, whereas those who believe that their conclusions must hew to available evidence tend to hold more accurate beliefs. Confidence in the ability to intuitively recognize truth is a uniquely important predictor of conspiracist ideation. Results suggest that efforts to counter misperceptions may be helped by promoting epistemic beliefs emphasizing the importance of evidence, cautious use of feelings, and trust that rigorous assessment by knowledgeable specialists is an effective guard against political manipulation.
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spelling pubmed-56031562017-09-22 Epistemic beliefs’ role in promoting misperceptions and conspiracist ideation Garrett, R. Kelly Weeks, Brian E. PLoS One Research Article Widespread misperceptions undermine citizens’ decision-making ability. Conclusions based on falsehoods and conspiracy theories are by definition flawed. This article demonstrates that individuals’ epistemic beliefs–beliefs about the nature of knowledge and how one comes to know–have important implications for perception accuracy. The present study uses a series of large, nationally representative surveys of the U.S. population to produce valid and reliable measures of three aspects of epistemic beliefs: reliance on intuition for factual beliefs (Faith in Intuition for facts), importance of consistency between empirical evidence and beliefs (Need for evidence), and conviction that “facts” are politically constructed (Truth is political). Analyses confirm that these factors complement established predictors of misperception, substantively increasing our ability to explain both individuals’ propensity to engage in conspiracist ideation, and their willingness to embrace falsehoods about high-profile scientific and political issues. Individuals who view reality as a political construct are significantly more likely to embrace falsehoods, whereas those who believe that their conclusions must hew to available evidence tend to hold more accurate beliefs. Confidence in the ability to intuitively recognize truth is a uniquely important predictor of conspiracist ideation. Results suggest that efforts to counter misperceptions may be helped by promoting epistemic beliefs emphasizing the importance of evidence, cautious use of feelings, and trust that rigorous assessment by knowledgeable specialists is an effective guard against political manipulation. Public Library of Science 2017-09-18 /pmc/articles/PMC5603156/ /pubmed/28922387 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0184733 Text en © 2017 Garrett, Weeks http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Garrett, R. Kelly
Weeks, Brian E.
Epistemic beliefs’ role in promoting misperceptions and conspiracist ideation
title Epistemic beliefs’ role in promoting misperceptions and conspiracist ideation
title_full Epistemic beliefs’ role in promoting misperceptions and conspiracist ideation
title_fullStr Epistemic beliefs’ role in promoting misperceptions and conspiracist ideation
title_full_unstemmed Epistemic beliefs’ role in promoting misperceptions and conspiracist ideation
title_short Epistemic beliefs’ role in promoting misperceptions and conspiracist ideation
title_sort epistemic beliefs’ role in promoting misperceptions and conspiracist ideation
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5603156/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28922387
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0184733
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