Dr. Pierre’s debut non-fiction book, False: How Mistrust, Disinformation, and Motivated Reasoning Make Us Believe Things That Aren’t True (Oxford University Press) is due out on March 3, 2025!
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False: How Mistrust, Disinformation, and Motivated Reasoning Make Us Believe Things that Aren’t True
Joe Pierre MD
An illuminating exploration of the psychology of false belief that lies at the root of science denialism, political polarization, and rampant belief in misinformation and disinformation.
Microchips in our vaccines, stolen elections, climate change denial—in the face of a bewildering range of misbeliefs that stem from mistrust of informational sources, exposure to misinformation and disinformation, and partisan polarization, it’s easy to dismiss those who disagree with us as “delusional”, “psychotic”, or merely “ignorant”. But what if none of these judgments are supported by how we really come to believe things, and the truth is that we are all prone to false beliefs? What can we do to protect ourselves in this post-truth world?
Drawing on decades of experience as a psychiatrist and clinical professor, Joe Pierre invites readers to journey with him through the normal quirks of brain functioning—such as “heuristics”, cognitive biases, motivated reasoning, cognitive dissonance, and bullshit receptivity—that create the cognitive vulnerabilities to false belief innate within us all. With a cross-disciplinary approach, False illuminates the psychology of false belief that lies at the root of contemporary media mistrust, science denialism, and political polarization, and highlights that contrary to popular opinion, deficits of intelligence and mental health are usually not to blame.
With a refreshingly unbiased lens, Pierre suggests an antidote to false beliefs and makes the case for softening our convictions, viewing our ideological opponents with compassion, and mending the rifts in our relationships as individuals and societies alike.
Publisher’s page: False: How Mistrust, Disinformation, and Motivated Reasoning Make Us Believe Things That Aren’t True (Oxford University Press, 2025)
Reviews:
“The most consequential riddle in human psychology is why so many people believe such incredibly wrong and dangerous things. Joe Pierre, master of this mystery, has written a fascinating book that best describes and explains the seductive appeal of lies, misinformation, and conspiracy theory. Only by plumbing the depths of gullibility can we hope to neutralize its increasingly corrosive effects on our ever more fragile democracy”
—Allen Frances, Professor and Chair Emeritus, Department of Psychiatry, Duke University
“As a psychiatrist, Pierre brings a fresh perspective to the problems of fake news and misinformation, and why people can be led to believe things that are false or misleading. From delusions to faith, and science and probabilities, Pierre takes the reader on a fascinating tour of the kaleidoscopic diversity of human belief formation and its pitfalls.”
—Stephan Lewandowsky, Professor of Cognitive Science, University of Bristol
“Many books address our common fallacies, biases, and cognitive errors, but Pierre’s False shows how these psychological quirks have fueled many of our contemporary delusions, including ‘Pizzagate’, QAnon, flat Earth belief, and the Covid lab leak and anti-vaccination conspiracies. The writing is lively, accessible, and filled with illustrative examples drawn from our contemporary world. Highly recommended.”
—Stuart Vyse, behavioral scientist, contributing editor, Skeptical Inquirer magazine, and author of Believing in Magic: The Psychology of Superstition