misconception

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For examples, see common misconceptions.

A misconception happens when a person believes in a concept which is objectively false.

Due to the subjective nature of humanity, it can be assumed that everyone has some kind of misconception. This postulates to "no-one has perfect knowledge" and "no-one has a perfect mental representation of the world." If a concept cannot be proven to be either true or false, then it cannot be claimed that disbelievers have a misconception of the concept by believers, no matter how much the believers want a concept to be true (and vice versa).

Misrepresentation of a concept is not in itself a misconception, but it may produce a misconception. In conveying a concept, a person may choose to only present a subset of information about a concept. The receiver can assume other concepts about the presented concept, which may actually be false. Some can deliberately use misrepresentation to produce these misconceptions, in order to achieve their goals.

Challenging misconceptions

Many people have difficulty relinquishing misconceptions, because the false concepts may be deeply ingrained in the mental make-up of an individual. Some people also do not like to be proven wrong, and will continue clinging to a misconception despite any evidence to the contrary. This is a well-known psychological phenomenon, and is due to the lack of will or inability to re-evaluate information.

Politics

Misconceptions can deliberately be embraced and propagated by government (at any level) as propaganda, to achieve political goals.

See also

Look up misconception in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Educational psychology
• List of misconceptions