Belief Persistence after Evidential Discrediting: The Impact of Generated versus Provided Explanations on the Likelihood of Discredited Outcomes

Belief persistence after evidential discrediting was examined as a function of generated vs provided explanations. In Experiment 1, subjects who generated explanations for event outcomes produced significantly more belief persistence after the outcomes were discredited than subjects who read provided explanations. These differences in belief persistence were not found under no-discrediting conditions. Because the findings could have been due to...