Case Study: Unsuccessful Risk-Averse Firefighters

The study recruited a group of students to discern between real and fictitious suicide notes. The group was presented with 25 pairs of suicide notes and they were required to tell which ones were fake and which ones were real. Instead of revealing the true results of the study, the researchers deceived the participants by telling some of them that they did well and others did poorly, despite the actual results of their performance. In light of revealing the deception, and prior to revealing the actual results, the researchers found that the participants who were told they performed poorly assumed they actually performed poorly compared to average – despite having no basis for this conclusion. The researchers concluded that facts do not necessarily influence opinions.
One report showed that a successful risk-averse firefighter, whereas the other portrayed an unsuccessful risk-averse firefighters. The students were deceived, once again. Despite revealing the deception, students presented with the successful risk-averse firefighter believed that firefighters should avoid risk in order to be successful. The students presented with unsuccessful risk-averse firefighter believed that firefighters should take more risks in order to be more successful. The researchers concluded that despite their beliefs being refuted, people won’t make revisions in their beliefs despite the revelation of