The common belief fallacy occurs when people assert that a statement is true just because many other people are saying it is true and not because there is any proof that it is true (Messina and Messina, 2005). People believe what is said because everyone else believes it, rather than checking for themselves whether or not it is true. When people are uncertain about something, they often look at what the people around them, or their friends, or just people in general, are sa
ying about it and they go along with what most people seem to think (Appeal, 2005). For instance, in advertising, a drug company will often say something like, "9 out of 10 doctors recommend brand x pain reliever for headaches" so people believe that it must be good because most doctors recommend it. They don't bother to see if an actual study was done and which doctors said they would recommend the drug, or how many doctors were actually interviewed - 10 or 10,000. They do
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