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You can't not believe everything you read

D T Gilbert1, R W Tafarodi, P S Malone

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Texas, Austin 78712.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
|August 1, 1993
PubMed
Summary

Comprehending information involves automatically believing it. Cognitive load or time pressure prevents people from disbelieving false information, leading to its acceptance and use in decision-making.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Social Psychology
  • Philosophy of Mind

Background:

  • Philosophers like Descartes and Spinoza debated whether comprehension necessitates belief.
  • Spinoza argued that understanding requires initial belief, a concept termed 'assent'.
  • This research investigates the cognitive processes underlying assertion comprehension and belief formation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To test the hypothesis that comprehension inherently involves an initial belief in the information.
  • To examine the effects of cognitive load and time pressure on belief formation during comprehension.
  • To determine if individuals can disbelieve information when cognitive resources are constrained.

Main Methods:

  • Three experiments exposed participants to false information about individuals (a defendant or student).
  • Cognitive load and time pressure manipulations were employed to impede cognitive processing.
  • Participants made judgments (sentencing or liking) based on the provided information.

Main Results:

  • Both cognitive load and time pressure significantly increased participants' belief in the false information.
  • Participants under these constraints were more likely to use the false information in their judgments.
  • These conditions hindered the process of 'unbelieving' the comprehended assertions.

Conclusions:

  • Comprehension appears to include an initial, automatic belief in the information presented.
  • Cognitive constraints (load, time pressure) prevent the necessary cognitive step of disbelieving information.
  • Findings support Spinoza's view that comprehension involves an initial belief that requires effort to disconfirm.

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