Verification of Past Beliefs Influences Current Beliefs

It is important to understand the factors that influence belief formation and belief change.

We test the hypothesis that following belief change about contentious topics, verifying a past belief will influence current beliefs.

In Experiment 1, participants reported initial beliefs about television violence in a prescreening, then read a belief-inconsistent text in the experiment. Participants either verified or did not verify their initial beliefs before reporting current beliefs. In Experiment 2, participants were randomly assigned to verify their initial belief (about gun control effectiveness), a false belief that was the opposite of their initial belief or did not verify a belief.

Participants changed their beliefs after reading a belief-inconsistent text. If participants first verified the beliefs they held several weeks prior to the experiment, they reported their post-reading beliefs as closer to those initial beliefs. In Experiment 2, although 80% of participants in the false belief condition verified that belief as accurate, it did not influence their post-reading beliefs.

Results show that beliefs were moderated when participants verified their initial beliefs. Results are consistent with the belief fluency hypothesis, which contends that salient information is used in constructing our current beliefs.