What is credulity? 10 key ideas about this phenomenon

Several characteristics that define its credulity and its limited power of influence.

What is credulity? Broadly speaking, it is the ease with which we believe what others tell us. A cognitive scientist, Hugo Mercier, drew a total of 10 very interesting conclusions regarding this phenomenon. According to him, we are much less gullible than has been believed up to now.

This author talks about the little influence exerted on us by the massive persuasion that comes to us from advertising, politics, religion... and on the other hand, he mentions the influence exerted by people close to us, and in whom we trust.

Don't miss this article if you want to know why, according to Mercier, in reality we believe ourselves much less than what has always been thought..

Credulity: 10 conclusions about it

Credulity consists of the ease with which people believe the things that others tell us. Logically, there are different degrees of credulity, since we are not all equally "credulous" (i.e. there are people who believe everything, for example, and very skeptical people).

Hugo Mercier, a cognitive scientist at the Institut Jean Nicod in Paris, co-author of the book The Enigma of Reason (decided to study the phenomenon of credulity.

According to this researcher, we are not as gullible as we have been led to believe up to now, and neither political campaigns, nor advertising, nor religion, nor, in short, attempts at mass persuasion, influence us as much as has been thought up to now.

Beyond this first conclusion, Mercier elaborated up to 10 conclusions regarding credulity. They are as follows.

1. "I am not credulous, but the other is".

Mercier's first conclusion about credulity, through his research, is the following: people believe that they are not credulous, but nevertheless, they think that others are. In social psychology, this phenomenon is called the third-person effect..

Thus, through it, we believe that we are not influenced by advertisements, by political leaders... but that others are. What if this, unconsciously, makes us even more susceptible to influence...? (because we are not "on our guard"). Anything can be possible.

2. People are not gullible

In line with the above, Mercier also believes that people are not gullible, and that they are not easy to deceive.

Mercier alludes to different experimental psychology studies linked to credulity, which show how people are not easily deceived. we do not believe everything we are told, but rather the oppositeWe consider different variables that lead us to decide to what extent we should believe or not believe the other person (for example, we believe more the things that come from informed and competent people, and also attractive...).

Moreover, if what we are told does not fit with what we think (with our beliefs), we reject it a priori.

3. Low power of political propaganda

According to Mercier, and also based on existing studies so far, the propaganda that is broadcast in totalitarian regimes does not modify our beliefs.

According to him, if we adhere to a party or an extremist political leader, for example, it is because we have an interest in it, not because we have been "convinced" of anything (i.e., not because of our credulity).

On the other hand, he also suggests that political propaganda, if anything, accentuates our beliefs (gives them strength), but does not radically change them..

4. The failure of political campaigns

The next conclusion Mercier draws regarding credulity is that political campaigns fail in their claim to persuade or convince citizens to vote for one party or another.

At most, they exert influence when voters have to decide beyond "right or left" (and this influence is moderate). As always, Mercier draws on research findings, citing a recent meta-analysis examining the effect of political campaigns on U.S. citizens. This meta-analysis reflects the above results.

5. Failure of advertising as well

Advertising is another tool that could exert its effect on our credulity. Moreover, in general, many more millions of euros are spent on advertising than on political campaigns.

Mercier also concludes that the effect of advertising on our decisions is not relevant either. the effect of advertising on our decisions is also irrelevant.. According to him, based on different studies (and some of them are very old), advertising messages are lost along the way, because they reach the heads of people without credulity.

6. Dumb" people are more susceptible to be influenced... false

Another very interesting conclusion of Mercier, on the phenomenon of credulity, is that the assumption that "dumb" people (or people with a lower intellectual level) are more influential, is totally false. We insist that, all this is according to this author.

He also adds that, in order to influence people, what we must do is not to prevent them from thinking, but precisely the opposite, to stimulate them to think more, offering them reasons to believe that we are right.

7. Myths, rumors... inoffensive

Another idea about credulity, according to the same scientist, is that most false beliefs (or even absurd beliefs) are actually harmless..

We are talking, specifically, about "hoaxes", legends, rumors, myths... according to Mercier, we believe that they influence us, and we believe "that we believe them", but in reality they do not influence our thoughts or behaviors.

8. We transmit myths even if they do not influence us.

Mercier's eighth conclusion regarding credulity is the following: although myths or legends do not influence our behavior, they do influence one of them: verbal behavior. We refer to the fact of transmitting these myths or legends by word of mouth, even if they do not really influence us.

9. People are rationally skeptical

Another of Mercier's ideas is this: people are not stubborn, they are very skeptical from a rational point of view.

Thus, if we are not offered good reasons (powerful reasons) to change our minds or to think in a certain way, we don't do it.. On the other hand, if we are given good reasons (especially by people close to us), we are "easily" influenced.

10. Information overload makes us incredulous.

The last conclusion of the scientist Hugo Mercier on credulity is that we need more information to be influenced, and not less, as has always been thought. It is a reality that we are overloaded with information, and that we are bombarded with it everywhere on a daily basis (without going any further, from advertising or social networks).

Well, since we cannot classify this information, nor locate it, nor reflect on it... because we do not have the time (it is impossible to do so, there is too much!) nor the motivation to do so. we have neither the time (it is impossible to do it, there is too much!) nor the motivation to do soWe simply continue to be installed in our skepticism, and we do not accept it as valid (we do not let it influence us).

Bibliographical references:

• De Vega, M. (1990). Introduction to Cognitive Psychology. Alianza Psicología. Madrid.
• Mercier, H. and Sperber, D. (2017). The Enigma of Reason. A New Theory of Human Understanding.
• Real Academia Española (RAE): Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., [version 23.3 online]. https://dle.rae.es [Accessed January 26, 2020].