Belief Persistence after Evidential Discrediting: The Impact of Generated versus Provided Explanations on the Likelihood of Discredited Outcomes

• Published in: Journal of experimental social psychology Vol. 33; no. 6; pp. 561 - 578
• Main Author: Davies, Martin F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: San Diego, CA Elsevier Inc 01.11.1997; Elsevier; Academic Press
• Subjects: Behavior. Attitude; Beliefs; Biological and medical sciences; Experimental psychology; Explanation; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Opinion; Psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Social psychology; Belief; Impression formation; Human; Attitude; Information processing; Self perception; Response persistence; Persuasion; Social cognition

Belief persistence after evidential discrediting was examined as a function of generated vs provided explanations. In Experiment 1, subjects who generated explanations for event outcomes produced significantly more belief persistence after the outcomes were discredited than subjects who read provide...