New psychology paper uses social identity to explain false beliefs in AI-era information environments
steverathje2 · x · 2026-09-22
A new paper by Jay Van Bavel's team (with Raunak Pillai and Steve Rathje) studies epistemically suspect beliefs, published in a special issue on interdisciplinary research into false beliefs.
Key arguments:
- Calls for bringing clinical psychology into false-belief research
- Uses social identity theory to explain how people select information and social environments, evaluate evidence, and process information in identity-affirming ways
- Extends these insights to clinical contexts, examining how social and personal identities shape susceptibility to certain beliefs
- Highlights how AI-shaped information environments raise new research questions
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