False Believing

In the essay “Study Demonstrates How We Support Our False Beliefs” by Patricia Donovan, the author writes about why people form false beliefs. Donovan uses the example of people placing the blame of 9/11 with Saddam Hussein as a justification for the United States to go to war with Iraq after the war had already begun. Although there has never been any evidence supporting this belief, Donovan explains why people form false beliefs like this. Donovan writes about a study conducted by Steven Hoffman, Ph.D., Monica Prasad, Ph.D., Andrew Perrin, Ph.D., and several graduate students from Northwestern University and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. The team conducted a series of interviews with people who believe in the 9/11 Saddam Hussein link. The researchers discovered that, even when presented with evidence that Hussein was not responsible for 9/11, the interviewees all had their own reasons to continue believing in the link. Hoffman stated, after the study was concluded, that “People were basically making up justifications for the fact that we were at war”. Throughout the essay, Donovan explains that, through the example of a link between 9/11 and Saddam Hussein, people need to justify to themselves their beliefs, whether true or false, because they need to be able to make sense of the things that are going on in their worlds. Donovan’s essay, while providing an interesting observation and argument, is ineffective in explaining why people have beliefs that are proven to be false. The thesis in Donovan’s essay is that people rationally justify their false beliefs out of a need to make sense of their surroundings. While this is an interesting claim, Donovan provides only one example of this type of thinking to support her thesis. Her essay was written in response to the publication of a study in the journal Sociological Inquiry. The audience for this essay was college level readers as it was published at the University of Buffalo News Center. When writing for a college level audience, there is a demand for evidence to support the papers thesis. In Donovan’s essay, the lack of supporting evidence might deter readers from believing her thesis. Had she provided more evidence in support of her thesis, her audience could easily accept the thesis as being true. The thesis of Donovan’s essay was developed as a response to a scientific study. Although the thesis could apply to the content of the study, Donovan went to broad on her thesis. The study was conducted on one specific topic, people believing in a connection between 9/11 and Saddam Hussein. Donovan’s thesis was to give an explanation as to why people believe in things that are proven to be false. A more appropriate thesis could be to explain why people believe in the link between Hussein and 9/11. When seeking to explain how and why people rationalize certain types of thinking that can be proven false, multiple explanations backed with specific examples are required. Donovan provides only one example to explain this phenomenon. Donovan’s thesis brings to light a very interesting topic. Giving only one example to support the thesis doesn’t do this topic justice. Donovan’s one thesis supporting example is very thorough. The given example is firmly supported through statements given by academic professionals and scientific research. Donovan cites the multiple sources used in writing the original essay to which her essay was a response. Donovan gives specific conclusions reached during the course of the scientific study about which the original essay was written. Donovan’s essay was non-bias, written in a manner that reflects the topic from a research standpoint. Donovan’s essay provides an interesting theory that as a reader, I would like to have more information. It seeks to explain an uncommon phenomenon, one that, after reading the essay, makes sense. It would have been nice for Donovan to use other examples outside of the topic about which she wrote to provide backup for her explanation as to why people form and rationalize false beliefs, something which all people do at some point in their lives whether consciously or unconsciously. Works Cited Donovan, Patricia. “Study Demonstrates How We Support Our False Beliefs.” New Center August 21, 2009. University at Buffalo.