This insightful book outlines the social psychology of false beliefs, examining the common human tendency to create and maintain collectively shared belief systems that are not supported by evidence.

Joseph P. Forgas is Scientia Professor of Psychology at the University of New South Wales, Australia. He received his D.Phil. and D.Sc. from the University of Oxford and his research focuses on affective influences on social cognition and behaviour. He published over 30 books and 300 papers and for his work he received the Order of Australia, the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award as well as a number of academic fellowships and honours.

Part 1. The Nature and Origins of False Beliefs

Chapter 1. Forgas, Joseph P. (University of New South Wales, Sydney). From false beliefs to collective delusions: The psychology of human credulity.

Chapter 2. Goel, Vinod (York University) False beliefs and the tethered mind

Chapter 3. Cooper, Joel & Packman, James (Princeton University) The care and feeding off false beliefs: A cognitive dissonance analysis

Chapter 4. Albarracin, Dolores & Javier Granados Samayoa (University of Pennsylvania) Beyond Confrontation: Bypassing and Motivational Interventions to Curb the Impact of False Beliefs

Chapter 5. Crano, William D. (Claremont College) The Birth, Development, and Transformation of False Beliefs.

Chapter 6. Krueger, Joachim (Brown university) and Gruening, David J. (University of Heidelberg) The false belief in free will.

Chapter 7. Dunbar, Robin (University of Oxford) Religion and the susceptibility to false belief

Chapter 8. French, Chris (Goldsmith's, London). The psychology of paranormal beliefs

Chapter 9. Sutton, Robbie, Hopkins-Doyle, Aife, Petterson, Aino, Zibell, Hannah, Chalmers, Jocelyn and Leach, Stefan (University of Kent) The false and widespread belief that feminists are misandrists.

Chapter 10. Jussim, Lee, Yanovsky, Sonia, Honeycutt, Nathan and Finkelstein, Danit (Rutgers University) Academic misinformation and false beliefs.

Chapter 11. Forgas, Joseph P. (University of New South Wales) Tribal delusions in academia: Three elephants carried by a turtle

Chapter 12. Fiedler, K. (University of Heidelberg) On the illusion of correct beliefs and the suspicion that correct beliefs may not exist

Chapter 13. Dunning, Dave (University of Michigan) False beliefs among experts and the cognitively able

Part 4. False beliefs and conspiracy theories

Chapter 14. van Prooijen, Jan-Willem (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) Pandemic conspiracy theories: Implications for health and polarisation

Chapter 15. Stanovich, Keith (University of Toronto) and Toplak, Maggie (York University) Reconceptualising the rationality of conspirational thinking

Chapter 16. Douglas, Karen, Ricky Green, Daniel Toribio-Flórez, Lea Kamitz, Cassidy Rowden, Mikey Biddlestone, and Dylan De Gourville (University of Kent) Conspiracy beliefs and interpersonal relationships

Chapter 17. Ritov, Ilana & Bruck, Amy (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) False beliefs about an antagonistic group