Inducing feelings of ignorance makes people more receptive to expert (economist) opinion
While they usually should, people do not revise their beliefs more to expert (economist) opinion than to lay opinion. The present research sought to better understand the factors that make it more likely for an individual to change their mind when faced with the opinions of expert economists versus...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Cambridge University Press
2020-11-01
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| Series: | Judgment and Decision Making |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1930297500008135/type/journal_article |
| _version_ | 1797695978455695360 |
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| author | Ethan A. Meyers Martin H. Turpin Michał Białek Jonathan A. Fugelsang Derek J. Koehler |
| author_facet | Ethan A. Meyers Martin H. Turpin Michał Białek Jonathan A. Fugelsang Derek J. Koehler |
| author_sort | Ethan A. Meyers |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | While they usually should, people do not revise their beliefs more to expert (economist) opinion than to lay opinion. The present research sought to better understand the factors that make it more likely for an individual to change their mind when faced with the opinions of expert economists versus the general public. Across five studies we examined the role that overestimation of knowledge plays in this behavior. We replicated the finding that people fail to privilege the opinion of experts over the public across two different (Study 1) and five different (Study 5) economic issues. We further find that undermining an illusion of both topic-relevant (Studies 2–4) and -irrelevant knowledge (Studies 3 and 4) leads to greater normative belief revision in response to expert rather than lay opinion. We suggest one reason that people fail to revise their beliefs more in response to experts is because people think they know more than they really do. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T03:20:02Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-429fb68fe8144a03864cb11eb4a63e55 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1930-2975 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T03:20:02Z |
| publishDate | 2020-11-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Judgment and Decision Making |
| spelling | doaj.art-429fb68fe8144a03864cb11eb4a63e552023-09-03T14:02:50ZengCambridge University PressJudgment and Decision Making1930-29752020-11-011590992510.1017/S1930297500008135Inducing feelings of ignorance makes people more receptive to expert (economist) opinionEthan A. Meyers0Martin H. Turpin1Michał Białek2Jonathan A. Fugelsang3Derek J. Koehler4University of WaterlooUniversity of WaterlooUniversity of Waterloo, University of WrocławUniversity of WaterlooUniversity of WaterlooWhile they usually should, people do not revise their beliefs more to expert (economist) opinion than to lay opinion. The present research sought to better understand the factors that make it more likely for an individual to change their mind when faced with the opinions of expert economists versus the general public. Across five studies we examined the role that overestimation of knowledge plays in this behavior. We replicated the finding that people fail to privilege the opinion of experts over the public across two different (Study 1) and five different (Study 5) economic issues. We further find that undermining an illusion of both topic-relevant (Studies 2–4) and -irrelevant knowledge (Studies 3 and 4) leads to greater normative belief revision in response to expert rather than lay opinion. We suggest one reason that people fail to revise their beliefs more in response to experts is because people think they know more than they really do.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1930297500008135/type/journal_articlebelief revisionexpertiseoverestimationexplainingignorance |
| spellingShingle | Ethan A. Meyers Martin H. Turpin Michał Białek Jonathan A. Fugelsang Derek J. Koehler Inducing feelings of ignorance makes people more receptive to expert (economist) opinion Judgment and Decision Making belief revision expertise overestimation explaining ignorance |
| title | Inducing feelings of ignorance makes people more receptive to expert (economist) opinion |
| title_full | Inducing feelings of ignorance makes people more receptive to expert (economist) opinion |
| title_fullStr | Inducing feelings of ignorance makes people more receptive to expert (economist) opinion |
| title_full_unstemmed | Inducing feelings of ignorance makes people more receptive to expert (economist) opinion |
| title_short | Inducing feelings of ignorance makes people more receptive to expert (economist) opinion |
| title_sort | inducing feelings of ignorance makes people more receptive to expert economist opinion |
| topic | belief revision expertise overestimation explaining ignorance |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1930297500008135/type/journal_article |
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