Tag: social processes

Researchers and mental health professionals use a common definition to describe delusions: a fixed, false belief held despite contradictory evidence. Not only does this definition fail to distinguish delusions from other widespread beliefs, such as religious or ideological beliefs, but it also attempts to simplify delusions to an individual characteristic of irrationality (i.e., the person has failed to distinguish what is true and false. This conceptualization of delusions has been criticized, and new theories have emerged, which focus on the inherently social nature of acquiring beliefs. This framework might better explain why delusions exist in the general population and identify some ways in which false beliefs can form….