Inducing Feelings of Ignorance Makes People More Receptive to Expert (economist) Opinion. Meyers, E. Judgment and Decision Making, 15(6):909–925, November, 2020. Accepted: 2019-08-19T17:41:49Z Publisher: University of Waterloo
abstract   bibtex   
While they usually should, people do not revise their beliefs more to expert (economist) opinion than to lay opinion. The present research sought to better understand the factors that make it more likely for an individual to change their mind when faced with the opinions of expert economists versus the general public. Here, across five studies (N = 2,650), I examined the role that overestimation of one’s knowledge plays in this behavior. I replicated the finding that people fail to privilege the opinion of experts over the public on two different (Study 1) and five different (Study 5) economic issues. I then found that undermining an illusion of both topic relevant (Studies 2 - 4) and irrelevant knowledge (Studies 3 & 4) can lead to greater belief revision in response to expert rather than lay opinion. I suggest one reason that people fail to revise their beliefs more to experts is because people tend to think they know more than they really do.
@article{meyers_inducing_2020,
	title = {Inducing {Feelings} of {Ignorance} {Makes} {People} {More} {Receptive} to {Expert} (economist) {Opinion}},
	volume = {15},
	abstract = {While they usually should, people do not revise their beliefs more to expert (economist) opinion than to lay opinion. The present research sought to better understand the factors that make it more likely for an individual to change their mind when faced with the opinions of expert economists versus the general public. Here, across five studies (N = 2,650), I examined the role that overestimation of one’s knowledge plays in this behavior. I replicated the finding that people fail to privilege the opinion of experts over the public on two different (Study 1) and five different (Study 5) economic issues. I then found that undermining an illusion of both topic relevant (Studies 2 - 4) and irrelevant knowledge (Studies 3 \& 4) can lead to greater belief revision in response to expert rather than lay opinion. I suggest one reason that people fail to revise their beliefs more to experts is because people tend to think they know more than they really do.},
	language = {en},
	number = {6},
	urldate = {2020-12-03},
	journal = {Judgment and Decision Making},
	author = {Meyers, Ethan},
	month = nov,
	year = {2020},
	note = {Accepted: 2019-08-19T17:41:49Z
Publisher: University of Waterloo},
	keywords = {12 Ignorance in other disciplinary fields, Ignorance in psychology and cognitive science, PRINTED (Fonds papier)},
	pages = {909--925},
}

Downloads: 0