People often hold extreme attitudes about complex policies. We hypothesized that people in fact know less about such policies than they think they do (the illusion of explanatory depth). We classified policies into those determined by sacred values (value-based) and those determined by their outcomes (consequence-based). Asking people to explain consequence-based policies in detail undermined the illusion of explanatory depth and led to more moderate attitudes. Values-based issues showed no such effect. When both types of policies were presented together, the effect did not occur either. To account for these results, we appealed to the perceived quality of consequence- and value-based explanations when considered separately and jointly.
Hu, Chun,
"The Illusion of Understanding of Complex Policies"
(2018).
Summer Research Symposium.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://doi.org/10.26300/44a7-tg16
Each year, Brown University showcases the research of its undergraduates at the Summer Research Symposium. More than half of the student-researchers are UTRA recipients, while others receive funding from a variety of Brown-administered and national programs and fellowships and go …
