The Anatomy of Belief: Why Do Smart People Believe Stupid Things?

Smart people can be stupid and believe absurd, weird, and crazy things. We are remarkably poor at distinguishing truth from falsehood and even worse at detecting liars and deception. Truth has nothing to do with what we believe. A belief doesn’t need to be true to be believed. We believe as we do, not because we think our belief is true, but because it is consistent with the wider web of our other beliefs. If we wish it to be true, and if it fits neatly inside the web of beliefs, then we readily believe it, true or false.