Knowing without knowing: how false confidence shapes the world
In an age marked by global instability, political upheaval and rapid information exchange, false confidence and misplaced certainty are emerging as central concerns across the social and psychological sciences. We invite scholarship that engages with the psychological, social and political dynamics that fuel the subjective feeling of certainty in the absence of sufficient evidence, especially during periods of crisis or ambiguity.
We welcome papers that explore how false or misplaced confidence — manifested in fanaticism, wilful ignorance, misinformation sharing and ideological entrenchment — shapes individual and collective behaviour, undermines democratic processes and threatens social cohesion.
Whether through the unwavering belief in misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic, the spread of political conspiracy theories, or the polarisation around climate change, unwarranted certainty has had real-world consequences — from violence and discrimination to the erosion of public trust and the breakdown of intergroup dialogue.
We welcome submissions on topics including (but not limited to):
- Psychological underpinnings of false confidence and misplaced certainty, and the undoing of epistemic humility
- Confirmation bias, motivated reasoning and the illusion of explanatory depth
- Fanaticism, extremism, and wilful ignorance: psychological and sociological mechanisms
- The role of misinformation, disinformation, and fake news in reinforcing false certainty
- Debunking efforts: successes, limitations, and unintended consequences
- Subjective certainty vs. objective evidence: how people reconcile belief with uncertainty
- Partisanship, group identity, and the polarisation of truth
- Violence, radicalisation or social fragmentation arising from misplaced certainty and mistrust
- Case studies on hot-button themes (e.g., COVID-19, US elections, climate change denial, anti-vaccine movements, and other key contemporary events)
- Effects of mistrust or misplaced trust on the democratic process, social cohesion, and intergroup dialogue
- Ethical and pedagogical implications on how to foster critical thinking and epistemic vigilance
We welcome empirical research, theoretical and conceptual contributions, systematic reviews, qualitative case studies, and interdisciplinary perspectives that critically interrogate how misplaced certainty operates in individual minds, collective movements, and structural systems.
Research is primarily invited from psychology, sociology, political science, communication studies, and philosophy.
Editors
For more details refer here
