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Belief Perseverance




It is a generic term for a variety of beliefs that are unreasonably resistant to change, due in part to the reasoning process carried out by the believer. Beliefs that have been arrived at by logical Deduction given the facts available are more likely to be persisted with than ones determined by Intuition or guesswork. This is also true for beliefs that have been expressed publicly. The sentiment is captured in the cliche "first impressions count".


TYPES OF BELIEF PERSEVERANCE


The perseverance effect can be classified under three types:
  • impression of oneself

  • beliefs about others

  • social theories.


These do not include pathological symptoms of brain injury, mental illness, or other bodily malfunction such as Anorexia .


REASONS FOR EFFECT


There are prosaic reasons why beliefs persevere despite contrary evidence. Embarrassment over having to withdraw a publicly declared belief, for example, or stubborness or hope. Superstition or Religion can allow a believer to give a greater weight to articles of faith over facts.

One explanation may lie in the workings of the human sensory sytem. Human brains and senses are organised in such a manner so as to facilitate rapid evaluation of social situations and others' states of mind. There is an evolutionary benefit in just estimating significance and relevance quickly, rather than waiting for an exact answer. Studies have shown that this behaviour is evident in the choosing of friends and partners and houses, even websites , though it is largely subconscious. Although it can be a very fast process, the initial impression has a lasting effect as a byproduct of the brain's tendency to fill in the gaps of what it perceives and an unwillingness of the part of a believer to admit that their cogitation was erroneous.


SEE ALSO



REFERENCES

  • Ross, L., Lepper, M. R. and Hubbard, M. "Perseverance in self-perception and social perception: Biased attributional processes in the debriefing paradigm" ''Journal of Personality and Scoial Psychology'', 32, 880-892 1975

  • D.W. Schumann (Ed.) "Causal reasoning and belief perseverance" ''Proceedings of the Society for Consumer Psychology'' (pp. 115-120) Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee 1989

  • Tutin, Judith "Belief Perseverance: A Replication and Extension of Social Judgment Findings" Edu. Resources Inf. Ctr. ED240409 1983