The Source of Beliefs in Conflicting and Non Conflicting Situations

What stance does one take towards information received as part of communication? On the one hand, a great deal of knowledge one acquires in one’s life comes from communication. One is therefore likely to be trustful towards information communicated by others. On the other hand, communication can be used to manipulate others. If an audience were to constantly trust information provided by a communicator, she would often be misled. Hence, being cautious with communicated information can reduce the risk of acquiring false beliefs. From an evolutionary standpoint, people should process a new piece of information distinctively as a function of its source. A particularly interesting case arises when a communicated piece of information conflicts with beliefs that have been acquired on one’s own. Are we inclined to revise our beliefs or are we inclined to conserve our beliefs and reject the speaker’s information? A first experiment showed that participants are biased towards the beliefs they acquired on their own: People are less likely to revise an initial set of beliefs obtained on their own when it is contradicted by communicated information, than to revise an initial set of beliefs obtained by communication when it is contradicted by information obtained on their own. A second experiment showed that the more likely the communicator is in position of manipulating her audience the less likely are participants to revise their beliefs on the basis of what he has communicated. Finally, a third experiment showed that even when beliefs do not have to be revised, the source has some influence on the degree to which these beliefs are endorsed.