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Will People Believe Anything? The Psychology of Gullibility

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We'd like to believe that we live during an enlightened age in which reason has vanquished the superstitions of old. But many of us also believe our horoscopes, get nervous when people open umbrellas indoors, or worry about jinxing things like sporting events and elections. According to Dr. Thomas D. Gilovich, our propensity to give credence to absurd ideas stems from an overload of information rather than a lack of it. Tonight, Gilovich, the author of How We Know What Isn't So and other books on judgment and decision-making, discusses how we make sense of our chaotic world by seeing things that aren't necessarily there, and accepting convenient falsities rather than complicated truths.

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    I presume that not believing in something isn't just the lack of information would bring us back to "Socrates' appology" when he says, "I just know that I know nothing." I wonder if what Plato ment to say could've been, "I just believe that I believe nothing." However, it might be the fact that one believes what one knows. I really don't know.

    By jose a. on 12/06/2008 at 04:28 pm
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