Dimensions of beliefs without strong supporting evidence and reasons for holding them
Beliefs without strong supporting evidence (BWSSE) are commonplace, such as religious beliefs and conspiracy theories. The goals of the current study were to identify dimensions of BWSSE in the general public and study how reasons for holding each dimension depend on the strength of the belief. Part...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2023-09-01
|
| Series: | Heliyon |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S240584402307041X |
| _version_ | 1797669793985200128 |
|---|---|
| author | Judy Cheng Katie M. Lavigne Jessica Khangura Abhijit Chinchani Maiya Rasheed Bryan K.S. Woodward Hafsa Zahid Jiaying Zhao Ryan Balzan Andrew G. Ryder Mahesh Menon Todd S. Woodward |
| author_facet | Judy Cheng Katie M. Lavigne Jessica Khangura Abhijit Chinchani Maiya Rasheed Bryan K.S. Woodward Hafsa Zahid Jiaying Zhao Ryan Balzan Andrew G. Ryder Mahesh Menon Todd S. Woodward |
| author_sort | Judy Cheng |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Beliefs without strong supporting evidence (BWSSE) are commonplace, such as religious beliefs and conspiracy theories. The goals of the current study were to identify dimensions of BWSSE in the general public and study how reasons for holding each dimension depend on the strength of the belief. Participants completed a BWSSE questionnaire online, and principal component analysis suggested that the questionnaire captured 6 dimensions of beliefs that range in strength: New Age Spiritual, Traditional Spiritual, Nonconformist, Science, Mythical, and Conspiracy Theory. Mixed-model analyses of variance showed that while high-strength believers in both New Age and Traditional Spiritual shifted their reasons-for-belief away from ‘just believe’ and towards personal experience, only Traditional Spiritual shifted away from ‘just believe’ to culture. In contrast, for Conspiracy Theory and Mythical, the dominant reason for belief was media, but for Conspiracy Theory only, there was a shift from media to education/personal research for high-strength believers. This demonstrates that although spiritual beliefs are strengthened by personal experience, conspiracy theory beliefs are strengthened by information gathering. Understanding the source of an existing belief is important for debiasing attempts to move people towards beliefs with strong supporting evidence, including greater acceptance of evidence provided by experts, a likely requirement for negotiating global humanitarian emergencies in the not-so-distant future.Statement of Relevance.Beliefs without strong supporting evidence (BWSSE) have been gaining attention in mainstream society; particularly, the sources of information that may contribute to their formation and resistance to correction. Understanding the source of an existing belief is important for debiasing attempts to move people towards beliefs with strong supporting evidence, including greater acceptance of evidence provided by experts, a likely requirement for negotiating global humanitarian emergencies in the not-so-distant future. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T20:49:54Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c3bf3bd0bb504c6baeae793d15acc13d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2405-8440 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T20:49:54Z |
| publishDate | 2023-09-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Heliyon |
| spelling | doaj.art-c3bf3bd0bb504c6baeae793d15acc13d2023-10-01T06:01:27ZengElsevierHeliyon2405-84402023-09-0199e19833Dimensions of beliefs without strong supporting evidence and reasons for holding themJudy Cheng0Katie M. Lavigne1Jessica Khangura2Abhijit Chinchani3Maiya Rasheed4Bryan K.S. Woodward5Hafsa Zahid6Jiaying Zhao7Ryan Balzan8Andrew G. Ryder9Mahesh Menon10Todd S. Woodward11Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, CanadaDepartment of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, CanadaDepartment of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada; BC Mental Health and Addictions Research Institute, Vancouver, BC, CanadaDepartment of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada; Department of Bioinformatics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada; BC Mental Health and Addictions Research Institute, Vancouver, BC, CanadaDepartment of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, CanadaDepartment of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, CanadaUniversity of Toronto Department of Biomedical Engineering, CanadaDepartment of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada; Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, CanadaCollege of Education, Psychology & Social Work, Flinders University, Adelaide, AustraliaDepartment of Psychology, University of Concordia, Montreal, QC, Canada; Culture & Mental Health Research Unit, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, QC, CanadaDepartment of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada; Vancouver Coastal Health, Vancouver, BC, CanadaDepartment of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada; Department of Bioinformatics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada; BC Mental Health and Addictions Research Institute, Vancouver, BC, Canada; Corresponding author. Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.Beliefs without strong supporting evidence (BWSSE) are commonplace, such as religious beliefs and conspiracy theories. The goals of the current study were to identify dimensions of BWSSE in the general public and study how reasons for holding each dimension depend on the strength of the belief. Participants completed a BWSSE questionnaire online, and principal component analysis suggested that the questionnaire captured 6 dimensions of beliefs that range in strength: New Age Spiritual, Traditional Spiritual, Nonconformist, Science, Mythical, and Conspiracy Theory. Mixed-model analyses of variance showed that while high-strength believers in both New Age and Traditional Spiritual shifted their reasons-for-belief away from ‘just believe’ and towards personal experience, only Traditional Spiritual shifted away from ‘just believe’ to culture. In contrast, for Conspiracy Theory and Mythical, the dominant reason for belief was media, but for Conspiracy Theory only, there was a shift from media to education/personal research for high-strength believers. This demonstrates that although spiritual beliefs are strengthened by personal experience, conspiracy theory beliefs are strengthened by information gathering. Understanding the source of an existing belief is important for debiasing attempts to move people towards beliefs with strong supporting evidence, including greater acceptance of evidence provided by experts, a likely requirement for negotiating global humanitarian emergencies in the not-so-distant future.Statement of Relevance.Beliefs without strong supporting evidence (BWSSE) have been gaining attention in mainstream society; particularly, the sources of information that may contribute to their formation and resistance to correction. Understanding the source of an existing belief is important for debiasing attempts to move people towards beliefs with strong supporting evidence, including greater acceptance of evidence provided by experts, a likely requirement for negotiating global humanitarian emergencies in the not-so-distant future.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S240584402307041X |
| spellingShingle | Judy Cheng Katie M. Lavigne Jessica Khangura Abhijit Chinchani Maiya Rasheed Bryan K.S. Woodward Hafsa Zahid Jiaying Zhao Ryan Balzan Andrew G. Ryder Mahesh Menon Todd S. Woodward Dimensions of beliefs without strong supporting evidence and reasons for holding them Heliyon |
| title | Dimensions of beliefs without strong supporting evidence and reasons for holding them |
| title_full | Dimensions of beliefs without strong supporting evidence and reasons for holding them |
| title_fullStr | Dimensions of beliefs without strong supporting evidence and reasons for holding them |
| title_full_unstemmed | Dimensions of beliefs without strong supporting evidence and reasons for holding them |
| title_short | Dimensions of beliefs without strong supporting evidence and reasons for holding them |
| title_sort | dimensions of beliefs without strong supporting evidence and reasons for holding them |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S240584402307041X |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT judycheng dimensionsofbeliefswithoutstrongsupportingevidenceandreasonsforholdingthem AT katiemlavigne dimensionsofbeliefswithoutstrongsupportingevidenceandreasonsforholdingthem AT jessicakhangura dimensionsofbeliefswithoutstrongsupportingevidenceandreasonsforholdingthem AT abhijitchinchani dimensionsofbeliefswithoutstrongsupportingevidenceandreasonsforholdingthem AT maiyarasheed dimensionsofbeliefswithoutstrongsupportingevidenceandreasonsforholdingthem AT bryankswoodward dimensionsofbeliefswithoutstrongsupportingevidenceandreasonsforholdingthem AT hafsazahid dimensionsofbeliefswithoutstrongsupportingevidenceandreasonsforholdingthem AT jiayingzhao dimensionsofbeliefswithoutstrongsupportingevidenceandreasonsforholdingthem AT ryanbalzan dimensionsofbeliefswithoutstrongsupportingevidenceandreasonsforholdingthem AT andrewgryder dimensionsofbeliefswithoutstrongsupportingevidenceandreasonsforholdingthem AT maheshmenon dimensionsofbeliefswithoutstrongsupportingevidenceandreasonsforholdingthem AT toddswoodward dimensionsofbeliefswithoutstrongsupportingevidenceandreasonsforholdingthem |