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Chapter 9 - Do Cultural Misbeliefs Cause Costly Behavior?

from Evolutionary Psychology of Beliefs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2022

By
Hugo Mercier  and
Sacha Altay
Edited by
Julien Musolino ,
Joseph Sommer  and
Pernille Hemmer
Julien Musolino
Affiliation:
Rutgers University, New Jersey
Joseph Sommer
Affiliation:
Rutgers University, New Jersey
Pernille Hemmer
Affiliation:
Rutgers University, New Jersey
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Summary

Cultural misbeliefs are false beliefs that are widely spread through social transmission, such as rumors or conspiracy theories. These misbeliefs are often feared to cause much damage, as people engage in costly actions on their basis. However, it is possible for people to hold a belief in such a way that the belief only has limited impact on their thoughts or behavior – if they hold a belief reflectively, by contrast with intuitively. Here, we argue that (i) most cultural misbeliefs are held reflectively and that (ii) they rarely directly cause costly behavior. We note that different cultures use different misbeliefs to justify similar behaviors, suggesting that the beliefs are secondary to the behavior. Moreover, misbeliefs usually do not have the consequences they would have if they were held intuitively, causing other types of (usually less costly) behaviors instead.

Keywords

misbelieffake newsrumorsconspiracy theoriesmedical theoriesreflective beliefsintuitive beliefs
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cognitive Science of Belief
A Multidisciplinary Approach
 , pp. 193 - 208
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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