Colloquium: Delusions, Positive Illusions and Jumps to Conclusions: Understanding Departures from Rational Belief
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Delusions, Positive Illusions and Jumps to Conclusions: Understanding Departures from Rational Belief |
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Rational belief formation involves holding beliefs with the firmness that the evidence warrants. Unfortunately, humans are known to fall short of this ideal, being prone to various forms of “misbelief”. Such deviations from rational belief range from “healthy” (yet potentially destructive) forms, such as “positive illusions” about one’s prowess and prospects, to the bizarre delusions common in certain psychiatric and neurological disorders. According to the dominant psychiatric conception (e.g., the DSM), delusions are fixed beliefs that are under-responsive to relevant evidence. I will argue that whereas many cases of misbelief fit this definition (e.g., sexual overperception, positive illusions, anosognosia), delusions do not. I will present evidence that delusion-prone individuals are actually overly responsive to current evidence.
Biography
Ryan McKay is a senior lecturer in psychology at Royal Holloway, University of London. His research interests include cognitive neuropsychiatry, evolutionary psychology and behavioural economics. He was educated at UWA (B.Sc. Hons) and Macquarie University (MClinPsych, PhD), and has held research posts in Boston (Tufts University), Belfast (Queen’s University), Zürich (University of Zürich) and Oxford (University of Oxford).
Speaker(s) |
Dr Ryan McKay
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Location |
Bayliss Lecture Theatre, Chemistry, G33
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Contact |
Romina Palermo
<[email protected]>
: 64883267
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Start |
Tue, 12 Nov 2013 13:00
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End |
Tue, 12 Nov 2013 13:50
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Submitted by |
Admin Psy <[email protected]>
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Last Updated |
Thu, 24 Oct 2013 16:17
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