Epistemic beliefs' role in promoting misperceptions and conspiracist ideation.

ABSTRACT: Widespread misperceptions undermine citizens' decision-making ability. Conclusions based on falsehoods and conspiracy theories are by definition flawed. This article demonstrates that individuals' epistemic beliefs-beliefs about the nature of knowledge and how one comes to know-have important implications for perception accuracy. The present study uses a series of large, nationally representative surveys of the U.S. population to produce valid and reliable measures of three aspects of epistemic beliefs: reliance on intuition for factual beliefs (Faith in Intuition for facts), importance of consistency between empirical evidence and beliefs (Need for evidence), and conviction that "facts" are politically constructed (Truth is political). Analyses confirm that these factors complement establ

SUBMITTER: Garrett RK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5603156 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature