article thumbnail

Why People Keep Saying, “That’s What the Terrorists Want”

Harvard Business Review

The theory comes from the foundational work of Fritz Heider, the father of attributional theory. Heider saw individuals as “naïve psychologists” motivated by a practical concern – a need to simplify, comprehend, and predict the motives of others.

Heider 8
article thumbnail

Why Debunking Myths About Vaccines Hasn’t Convinced Dubious Parents

Harvard Business Review

So repeating wrong information, even to debunk it, backfires. But Nyhan and Reifler, in their research on misperceptions and corrections , discovered that when people who are mistaken undergo a self-affirmation exercise, it increases the odds that they’ll accept the corrected information.

Heider 8