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Pluto behaving badly: false beliefs and their consequences
Shari R Berkowitz1, Cara Laney, Erin K Morris
1Department of Criminology, Law & Society, University of California, Irvine 92697-7080, USA. sberkowi@uci.edu
Abstract:
We exposed college students to suggestive materials in order to lead them to believe that, as children, they had a negative experience at Disneyland involving the Pluto character. A sizable minority of subjects developed a false belief or memory that Pluto had uncomfortably licked their ear. Suggestions about a positive experience with Pluto led to even greater acceptance of a lovable ear-licking episode. False beliefs and memories had repercussions; those seduced by the bad suggestions were not willing to pay as much for a Pluto souvenir. These findings are among the first to demonstrate that false beliefs can have repercussions for people, meaning that they can influence their later thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors.
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