Mind: Shouts Banish Doubts

Newly published research confirms and expands upon an insight first revealed in the 1950s: If confidence in one's core tenets becomes shaky, a common response is to proselytize all the more vigorously.

The apparent reason, according to Northwestern University researchers David Gal and Derek Rucker, is that advocacy on behalf of one's beliefs helps banish any uncomfortable lack of certainty.

Although it is natural to assume that a persistent and enthusiastic advocate of a belief is brimming with confidence, they write in the journal Psychological Science, the advocacy might in fact signal that the individual is boiling over with doubt.

For more, see Shouts Banish Doubts by Tom Jacobs, October 15, 2010 at Miller-McCune.