This is a paper on how irrational beliefs persist that I think about often.
Bocconi University, like many colleges, has a superstition: if you walk between these lion statues, you won’t graduate. The paper finds 20% of students wouldn’t walk between the lions for $1,000! 1/4
Bocconi University, like many colleges, has a superstition: if you walk between these lion statues, you won’t graduate. The paper finds 20% of students wouldn’t walk between the lions for $1,000! 1/4
But 80% of students will privately take much less 💰 & break the superstition if others do. They conform from peer pressure, not belief. If others stop acting like they believe, so will they. But the 20% of people who really believe are validated by the 80% who conform. Cycle! 2/
A relevant lesson: as true believers are enabled by others: “...policies that target false beliefs with the intention to change individual & group behavior may face substantial headwinds so long as those false beliefs are validated by the conforming behavior of the majority.” 3/4
Irrational beliefs can persist because the true believers convince the majority that there might be SOME risk to the belief being true, and the majority acting cautious based on this belief validates the true believers in turn. Here's the paper! 4/4 osf.io/c5hxs/
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