Collectively jumping to conclusions: Social information amplifies the tendency to gather insufficient data.

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License: CC BY 4.0
Serval ID
serval:BIB_15394A55D55F
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Collectively jumping to conclusions: Social information amplifies the tendency to gather insufficient data.
Journal
Journal of experimental psychology. General
Author(s)
Sulik J., Efferson C., McKay R.
ISSN
1939-2222 (Electronic)
ISSN-L
0022-1015
Publication state
Published
Issued date
11/2021
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
150
Number
11
Pages
2309-2320
Language
english
Notes
Publication types: Journal Article
Publication Status: ppublish
Abstract
False beliefs can spread within societies even when they are costly and when individuals share access to the same objective reality. Research on the cultural evolution of misbeliefs has demonstrated that a social context can explain what people think but not whether it also explains how people think. We shift the focus from the diffusion of false beliefs to the diffusion of suboptimal belief-formation strategies and identify a novel mechanism whereby misbeliefs arise and spread. We show that, when individual decision makers have access to the data-gathering behavior of others, the tendency to make decisions on the basis of insufficient evidence is amplified, increasing the rate of incorrect, costly decisions. We argue that this mechanism fills a gap in current explanations of problematic, widespread misbeliefs such as climate change denial. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
Keywords
Cultural Evolution, Humans, Social Environment
Pubmed
Web of science
Funding(s)
Swiss National Science Foundation / 100018_185417
Create date
12/04/2021 13:21
Last modification date
21/11/2022 8:24
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