Understanding the psychology of belief

What is it about?

How does belief work? Many people's beliefs appear to be wrong and irrational. This is often taken as evidence that beliefs are irrational. People might believe what they want to be true, or what is useful, rather than accurate. In contrast, we propose that belief must be understood to result from multiple processes. The processes differ based on whether they can be voluntarily controlled. Belief updating - or changing a belief when new evidence comes in - is not under people's control. For example, you cannot choose to believe that you have won the lottery, even if you really want to or if it would be useful to form this belief. In contrast, another type of belief process can be controlled. If you so desire, you can choose to search for evidence supporting a belief or use motivated reasoning to preferentially debunk opposing arguments. We discuss 6 mental processes involved in belief and propose a framework for how they interact with each other. In addition, we illustrate how factors like emotions, goals, and people's personalities affect these processes and, ultimately, the beliefs they come to possess.

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Why is it important?

Interest in belief is growing with the rise of political polarization and misinformation. We offer a unitary and coherent theory of how belief works which illustrates how irrational influences may (and may not) affect belief. This theory explains why we disagree and offers some means for reconciling disagreement.