The Othello Effect: People Are More Disturbed by Others' Wrong Beliefs Than by Different Beliefs

Abstract

We propose an alternative account to the conventional theory of belief homophily--that people have an intrinsic distaste for encountering differences in beliefs. We argue that when people face others who hold beliefs different from their own, they do not find these encounters disturbing because others hold different beliefs per se, but because they are convinced that others hold false beliefs. In five pre-registered studies (N = 2,835, MTurk) featuring self-recalled personal experiences and vignette scenarios, we demonstrate that participants express stronger negative feelings when others hold false beliefs, compared to when others' beliefs are merely different from their own. We also show that higher confidence that others hold false beliefs--but not different beliefs--evokes stronger negative emotions and triggers avoidance behaviors. Finally, we highlight that people are primarily disturbed by others holding false beliefs when the negative consequences of these beliefs might affect someone who they care about.