false belief
Erroneous held notion
A false belief is something someone holds to be true that isn't—whether through misinformation, wishful thinking, or flawed reasoning.
In psychology, understanding that others can hold false beliefs is a developmental milestone, typically emerging around age four: The child passed the false belief test when she recognized that Sally would look in the wrong box.
- rumorUnconfirmed circulating story
- old wives taleUnverified traditional belief
- urban legendUnverified viral story
- illusionMisleading sensory impression
- misconceptionErroneous belief or understanding
wrong impression · trick · theory of mind · fallacy · self-deceit · blind faith · willful ignorance · folk psychology · mask · bluff · fake it · cognitive development · cognitive bias · confabulation · Santa Claus · misinformation · fake news · confirmation bias
- Mind Reading
- Misconceptionsmisconception, myth, fallacy, misbelief, wrong idea
- self-deceptiondenial, delusion, wishful thinking, rationalization, willful blindness
- irrationalityirrationality, unreason, illogic, madness, insanity
- mentalizingtheory of mind, mindreading, mental states, mentalization, mind reading
- beliefscreed, creeds, faith, faiths, religion
false beliefknowledge
Understood facts and skills
truth · reality · fact · understanding · factual knowledge
false, belief, beliefs, believing, unbelievable, believer, disbelief, believable, falsehood