Why do people often actively choose to believe lies?

WHY DO PEOPLE OFTEN ACTIVELY CHOOSE TO BELIEVE LIES?
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ABSTRACT
The overall purpose of this essay is to establish the reasons behind the common tendency of people to consistently believe lies even when they learn with time that long held beliefs are false. It establishes the human characters and misgivings that enable half truths and lies to persist over long durations of time in the society. The paper investigates aspects of human conduct and beliefs that fuel the sustainability of lies. The essay starts with an introduction of the problem which is stating the tendency of people to believe lies over time. It then establishes three key reasons that can be said to be the drivers of sustained belief in lies over long periods of time. The reasons expounded in the essay include the availability heuristic, emotional reasoning, and confirmation bias. The contribution of the three to sustained belief and reliance on lies is examined to details. The essay then draws to a conclusion by summarizing the reasons for the sustained belief in lies and offering a solution on how people can fight of the tendency to believe lies.
INTRODUCTION
There are various positions on various subjects in the world today. This paper seeks to establish the possible reasons why many people have a tendency of believing and clinging onto things that are not true CITATION DeP18 \l 1033 (DePaulo & Kashy, 2018). Sometimes this occurs even when they know the true positions about various things. Studies by most psychologists are keen on establishing the possible reasons concentrated on some sets of cognitive biases and various mental shortcuts. The paper seeks to expound on why human beings mostly engage in mental shortcuts to understand situations around them. People hold varied opinions on the same matters even though the true position in most instances is factual and can be identified if things are looked at objectively. It is possible that the reasons why many people choose to believe false things are as many as the number of people who have at one time, or another, believed false things. Many psychologists have done extensive study and research to establish the major basis for consistent believe in lies CITATION Uti13 \l 1033 (Utikal & Fischbacher, 2013). This paper thus endeavors to clearly support that many people actually tend to believe lies while also bringing out the probable reasons mostly because it makes them feel good about situations.
THE AVAILABILTY HEURISTIC
This can be used to mean the same as the idea of mental shortcuts. A heuristic is a mental shortcut that that people often use in finding the solutions that they encounter at various instances from time to time. Mostly people apply heuristic reasoning I the endeavor to make decisions at a fast rate when certain decisions cannot be delayed. Human beings are faced with decisions to make on a daily basis. Such decisions in most of the instances have far reaching implications hence there needs to be a high degree caution. This is hastened decision making is what in most instances leads to people believing in lies. This comes about because the endeavor to reach faster decisions and conclusions leads to cognitive biases. To understand how heuristic reasoning can lead to errant decision making, it is important to consider an example. If random people were asked which is more dangerous between the occupation of a policeman and a fisherman, majority will, most likely, state that they view the job of a policeman as being riskier. However, statistical data availed by the United States Bureau of Labor Statics shockingly show that a fisherman is 10 times more likely to be killed in the line of duty as compared to a policeman CITATION Fra17 \l 1033 (Frank & Ekman, 2017). The question psychologists then ask is in relation to why most people would almost automatically consider the job of a policeman as being riskier as compared to that of a fisherman.
Going with the example given, it can be clearly established that mental shortcuts also called availability heuristic lead human beings to overestimate the frequencies of various events occurring. This mostly takes place when the said events are vivid in the memory of people. When a police officer is killed, more often than not the occurrences are reported in most media houses. Such news ais aired repeatedly and discussed over and over again by people in various for fora. This aspect of being broadcasted and reported over and over again makes people believe that deaths of police officers are more common when compared with those of people in other professions CITATION Fis13 \l 1033 (Fischbacher & Föllmi-Heusi, 2013). Only statistical data can help bring out the true state of affairs in such instances and help demystify such beliefs and myths. The availability heuristic can be used to explain various events and occurrences. It is the reason why medical practitioners normally believe that certain ailments are more widespread than is the actual situation. This is because in the course of their jobs, they are filled with memories of vivid examples due to day to day interactions with patien...