Yes. That’s what I mean. Thanks. I added a link to this paper: Gilbert, D.T., Tafarodi, R.W. and Malone, P.S. (1993) You can’t not believe everything you read. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 221-233.
This is the quote from Thinking Fast and Slow:
Gilbert proposed that understanding a statement must begin with an attempt to believe it: you must first know what the idea would mean if it were true. Only then can you decide whether or not to unbelieve it. The initial attempt to believe is an automatic operation of System 1, which involves the construction of the best possible interpretation of the situation. Even a nonsensical statement, Gilbert argues, will evoke initial belief. Try his example: “whitefish eat candy.” You probably were aware of vague impressions of fish and candy as an automatic process of associative memory searched for links between the two ideas that would make sense of the nonsense. Disbelief is a system 2 thought process. The moral is significant: when System 2 is otherwise engaged, we will believe almost anything. System 1 is gullible and biased to believe, System 2 is in charge of doubting and unbelieving, but System 2 is sometimes busy, and often lazy. Indeed, there is evidence that people are more likely to be influenced by empty persuasive messages, such as commercials, when they are tired and depleted.
Thinking Fast and Slow references studies of disbelief requiring attention—which is what I assume you mean by “easier”.
Yes. That’s what I mean. Thanks. I added a link to this paper: Gilbert, D.T., Tafarodi, R.W. and Malone, P.S. (1993) You can’t not believe everything you read. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 221-233.
This is the quote from Thinking Fast and Slow: