Mistruth Can Set You Free: The Power of (False) Belief
You may have noticed that a lot of people around you believe things that are patently untrue. In fact, you are almost definitely subject to your fair share of false beliefs as well (of course, far less so than your acquaintances). This has been true throughout history, but in the current information ecosystem of cat videos and conspiracy theories, it can seem especially evident. The question I’d like to explore is this: are false beliefs always bad to endorse? In other words—do false beliefs always lead to negative consequences or do they sometimes result in positive outcomes?
Now, it would be easy at this point for the discussion to descend into a mind-numbing philosophical treatise on the definition of truth. But I’d prefer to spare both of us this painful route. Instead, for the sake of this discussion (and maintaining our sanity), let’s assume that the truth is something that corresponds with facts in the world. So the statement sugar cures major depression is false because there is no evidence to back such a statement in the real world (as unfortunate as that is). Of course, if trials were conducted, and it were shown that sugar does exhibit such effects, the statement would be considered true. Assuming you’re on board with this definition of truth, we’re still left with the thorny question I introduced above: Is the incorrect belief (in this case, that sugar cures major depression) always damaging, or can it sometimes be beneficial?
Beliefs and psychology: It’s all in the head
The placebo effect is the most obvious example of a false belief that can be therapeutic. It is not uncommon to find that a sugar pill—under the guise of a real drug—delivers a 20-40% reduction in depression symptoms.1 Would it then be accurate to claim that sugar pills can be 20-40% effective at treating depression? No. But it would be true to say that the belief that sugar pills are real drugs can sometimes be startlingly effective. Now, of course, many drugs are effective beyond the placebo—in fact, they have to be, or else they wouldn’t be approved by the FDA. We wouldn’t want psychiatrists handing out placebos rather than Prozac in order to prove the power of belief. But that shouldn’t diminish the remarkable fact that false belief in a given treatment can sometimes make people feel better.
Beliefs also play a pivotal role in many psychotherapies. Cognitive therapy, for instance, is based on the idea that depressed people hold negative self-beliefs (also called negative self-schemas).2 Martin Seligman’s famous research into the learned helplessness model of depression purported to show that these negative self-beliefs cause depressed people to attribute failure to internal and unchangeable forces.3 So a depressed person who fails his driving test may ascribe his failure to his innate lack of intelligence and inability to perform under pressure (internal and unchangeable), whereas a non-depressed person may blame his lack of sleep the night before (external and changeable).
This theory of attributional (or explanatory) styles has made waves in the worlds of clinical and popular psychology. Surprisingly though, some have argued that depressed people’s attributions are actually more realistic than that of non-depressed people.4 In other words, non-depressed people are biased toward optimism, while depressed people see the world as it truly is. Now, while optimism bias has been well-documented (think dropping out of school to become an entrepreneur or refraining from drawing up a prenuptial agreement despite high rates of divorce), the idea of depressive realism—that depressed people see the world realistically rather than with undue pessimism—has not garnered much support.5,6 Still, it does raise an interesting question: are people happy, in part, because they operate on false notions of their own agency and talent?
The study of willpower has also been impacted by the unexpected implications of belief. In a series of fascinating studies involving emotional films, tempting chocolate, and repellent radishes, Roy Baumeister and colleagues showed that we have a limited reserve of willpower that can be exhausted.7 To put it another way—willpower is like a muscle that fatigues with heavy use. The more you regulate yourself and restrain your impulses, the harder it becomes to do so later on in the day (in the absence of some sort of restorative activity).
While this research is fascinating in its own right, it gets even more intriguing. It turns out that if people believe that they have an infinite supply of willpower, they will not exhibit the same depletion effect (although severe chronic depletion still leads to long-term burnout).8 The belief in unlimited willpower seemingly allows people to access energy that would have otherwise been shut off from them.
References
1. Khan, A., Detke, M., Khan, S., & Mallingckrodt, C. (1974). Placebo Response and Antidepressant Clinical Trial Outcome. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 158(5), 319.
2. Beck, A. T., Rush, A. J., Shaw, B. F., & Emery, G. (1979). Cognitive therapy of depression. New York: Guilford
3. Abramson, L. Y., Seligman, M. E. P., & Teasdale, J. D. (1978). Learned Helplessness in Humans: Critique and Reformulation. Journal of Abnormal Psychology (Vol. 87).
4. Alloy, L. B., & Abramson, L. Y. (1988). Depressive realism: Four theoretical perspectives. In L. B. Alloy (Ed.), Cognitive processes in depression (p. 223–265). The Guilford Press.
5. Weinstein, N. D. (1980). Unrealistic optimism about future life events. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39(5), 806–820
6. Alloy, L. B., & Abramson, L. Y. (1988). Depressive realism: Four theoretical perspectives. In L. B. Alloy (Ed.), Cognitive processes in depression (p. 223–265). The Guilford Press.
7. Baumeister, R. F. (2014). Self-regulation, ego depletion, and inhibition. Neuropsychologia, 65, 313–319. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia
8. Job, V., Dweck, C. S., & Walton, G. M. (2010). Ego depletion—Is it all in your head? Implicit theories about willpower affect self-regulation. Psychological Science, 21, 1686–1693
9. Fact check: Outdated video of Fauci saying “there’s no reason to be walking around with a mask”; (2020, October 08). Retrieved December 10, 2020, from https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-fauci-outdated-video-masks/fact-checkoutdated-video-of-fauci-saying-theres-no-reason-to-be-walking-around-with-a-mask-idUSKBN26T2TR
10. Graham, J., & Haidt, J. (2010). Beyond beliefs: Religions bind individuals into moral communities. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 14(1), 140–150.
11. Cunha, L. F., Pellanda, L. C., & Reppold, C. T. (2019). Positive psychology and gratitude interventions: A randomized clinical trial. Frontiers in Psychology, 10(MAR), 1–9.
12. Ivtzan, I., Young, T., Martman, J. et al. Integrating Mindfulness into Positive Psychology: a Randomised Controlled Trial of an Online Positive Mindfulness Program. Mindfulness 7, 1396–1407 (2016)
13. Harris, S. (2017, December 04). Do We Really Need Bad Reasons To Be Good? Retrieved December 10, 2020, from https://samharris.org/do-we-really-need-bad-reasons-to-be-good/
About the Author
Jeremy Koloski
Jeremy is fascinated by the exploration of the human mind and human behavior. At the core of his thought are the big philosophical questions—why are we here, how did we get here, where are we going, and what is consciousness? He sees the arts and sciences as distinct, yet equally valuable tools with which to pick apart these fundamental, yet often intractable, mysteries. His software engineering background provided him with insight into the computational element of human behavior. To bridge the gap between the cold, packaged world of coding and the messy, shifting landscape of human behavior, he moved to London and completed a Master’s of Science in behavioral economics. Influenced by positive psychology, psychotherapy, nudge theory, and the biases and heuristics model, Jeremy is motivated to translate scientific insights to the public in order to help people help themselves. His master’s thesis attempted to uncover some of the factors leading people to squander their leisure time by participating in activities that they find meaningless and unproductive rather than restorative and future-oriented. His overarching goal is to shed light on the human condition, and in doing so, relieve pointless human suffering while maximizing human flourishing. In his free time, Jeremy composes music, writes short stories, and dabbles in wildlife photography.
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