Discussion:
A Discussion on Belief Perserverance
Belief perseverance can be described as being the phenomenon in which individuals or groups believe in their theories despite the existence of contrary evidence (Bonabeau, 2009). When analyzing the erroneous research on vaccination scenarios, it is believed that this phenomenon did occur. As a psychology professional, there are ways in which belief perseverance can be recognized. First, if theories or conclusions do not consider contrary evidence, belief perseverance may be present. Second, if theories or conclusions do not follow critical and scientific thinking guidelines, it is another possibility that belief perseverance may be present. Ultimately, as a psychology professional, it is imperative that I must remain unbiased, clear-headed, and aware of the phenomenon in order to recognize it and prevent it (Bonabeau, 2009).
With belief perseverance, just asking people to be unbiased, doesn't work. A few techniques have been tried to reduce the problem, the most successful is to get the person to imagine or explain how the opposite belief might be true. This technique is called counter explanation, and has been the most successful to date. Counter explanation - not arguing - can help others to see from a different perspective.
How do you think it might be to council someone with belief perseverance?