Is delusional imperviousness a backfire effect of being disbelieved?

Kyle Arnold

Psychosis, 2016, vol. 8, issue 4, 369-371

Abstract: A central problem of delusions is their imperviousness to counterargument. Although several existing theories account for aspects of delusional imperviousness, they omit the context of social interactions in which it occurs. Delusions elicit a specific and powerful social response from others: disbelief. Recent research has identified a backfire effect that happens when efforts to correct false beliefs strengthen, rather than weaken, conviction in those beliefs. It is proposed that delusional imperviousness is a special case of a backfire effect, in which repeated efforts to correct delusions paradoxically strengthen them. Delusions become impervious because they are strengthened by the counterarguments they elicit in others.

Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1080/17522439.2016.1166515

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