Jane Risen, a psychologist at the University of Chicago, calls this kind of thinking from people like Ike—“smart, educated, emotionally stable adults”—a form of acquiescence. We can recognize that something is wrong and irrational, but then consciously and purposefully choose to let the false belief stand rather than correct it. “People can recognize that one course of action is rationally superior yet choose to follow a different one,” Risen writes. You know the sports team you support won’t lose if you don’t wear your lucky jersey—but you put it on anyway. You may not actually believe in
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