When our beliefs face reality: An integrative review of belief updating in mental health and illness

“Belief updating" is a relatively nascent field of research, in which it is examined how people update their beliefs in the light of new evidence. So far, belief updating has been investigated in partly unrelated lines of research from different psychological disciplines. In this article, we aim to connect these disparate lines of research in an integrative approach. After presenting some prominent theoretical frameworks and experimental designs that have been used for the study of belief updating, we review how healthy people and people with mental disorders update their beliefs after receiving new information that supports or challenges their views. Available evidence suggests that both healthy people and people with particular mental disorders are prone to certain biases when updating their beliefs, although the nature of the respective biases varies considerably (depending on the particular mental disorder, for instance). Anomalies in belief updating are discussed both in terms of new insights into the psychopathology of various mental disorders and societal implications, such as irreconcilable political and societal controversies due to the failure to take information into account that disconfirms one's own view. We conclude by proposing a novel integrative model of belief updating and derive directions for future research.