Why do people tend to stick to false beliefs?

New York, September 5: Have you ever wondered why people stick to their false beliefs, even with irrefutable evidence to the contrary? It's because feedback rather than tangible evidence makes them more confident that they're right, finds a study.

The results of researchers at the University of California at Berkeley suggest that feedback, rather than hard evidence, boosts people's sense of certainty when they learn new things or try to distinguish right from wrong.

Beliefs are more likely to be reinforced by the positive or negative reactions they receive in response to an opinion, task, or interaction than by logic, reasoning, and scientific evidence.

"If you think you know a lot about something, even if you do not know it, you're less likely to be more interested in exploring the subject more deeply and not knowing how much you know," he said. lead author, Louis Marti. a doctoral student at the university.

"If you use a crazy theory to make a correct prediction a few times, you may find yourself stuck in that belief and not be as interested in gathering additional information," added Celeste Kidd, assistant professor at UC. Berkeley.

For the study, published in the journal Open Mind, more than 500 adults have examined different combinations of colorful shapes on their computer screens. They were asked to identify the so-called colored forms of "Daxxy" – an imaginary object invented by researchers for the purpose of experimentation.

The study found that people's confidence was based on their most recent performance rather than cumulative long-term results.

The certainty of an ideal learner would be based on observations accumulated over time, as well as comments, said Marti.

"If your goal is to reach the truth, the strategy of using your most recent comments, rather than all the data you've accumulated, is not an excellent tactic," he said. he declares.