Misconception

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

Due to the subjective nature of being human 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 a misconception but 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 presented concept which may be false. Some purposely use misrepresentation to produce these misconceptions to achieve goals, like politicians.

Challenging Misconceptions

Many people have difficulty letting go of misconceptions because the false concepts may be deeply ingrained in the mental map of an individual. Some people also don't like to be proven wrong and will continue clinging to a misconception in the face of evidence to the contrary. This is a known psychological phenomenon and is due to the lack of will or inability to re-evaluate information in

Politics

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

Examples of Misconceptions

Scientific

• Toilet water does not spin in a given direction due to being in a particular hemisphere of the Earth. That phenomenon only occurs in weather patterns of hundreds of miles in size like hurricanes. This is due to the rotation of the earth.
• In the theory of evolution, humans did not evolve from monkeys. The humans and the monkeys simply share a common ancestor. This is among the more popular scientific misconceptions, with people such as George W. Bush, Aly and AJ, and Kent Hovind (all proponents of creationism).
• Electricity, as measured by the flow of electrons, moves from - (negative) to + (positive).
• Guglielmo Marconi did not invent radio, Nikola Tesla developed means to reliably produce radio frequencies, publicly demonstrated the principles of radio, and transmitted long distant signals.

Past Scientific Misconceptions

• some cultures once thought Earth was flat
• people believe that Europeans from the middle and dark ages largely thought the earth was flat.
• some cultures once thought that the sun, stars, and planets revolved around the Earth

Mental Illness

• "These misconceptions can do irreparable harm to people with legitimate illnesses who should and can be treated," said Herbert Pardes, M.D., President of NARSAD’s Scientific Council.

• Psychiatric disorders are medical illnesses like heart disease and diabetes. People who have a mental illness are not just "crazy." Research shows there are genetic and biological causes for psychiatric disorders, and they can be treated effectively

• People with a severe mental illness, such as schizophrenia, are not usually dangerous and violent. Statistics show that the incidence of violence in people who have a brain disorder is not much higher than it is in the general population. Those suffering from a psychosis such as schizophrenia are more often frightened, confused and despairing than violent.

• Mental illness is not the result of bad parenting. Mental illnesses have a physical cause.

• Depression has nothing to do with being lazy, weak, or having a flaw in character. It results from changes in brain chemistry or brain function, and medication and/or psychotherapy often help people to recover.

• Schizophrenia is often confused with multiple personality disorder.

• Depression is not a normal part of the aging process.

• If you have a mental illness, you cannot will it away.

See also

• Educational psychology
• List of misconceptions