The Psychological Boundaries Delineating Truth and Falsehood

Abstract

Subjects completed the Boundary Questionnaire, the Conceptions of Truth Inventory (CTI), and a “false memory” paradigm. Thin boundaries were associated with CTI factors positing that “imaginative insight leads to universal truth,” that “truth transcends factual correctness,” and that “pragmatism leads to universal truth,” whereas thick boundaries were associated with CTI factors positing that “truth is consistent and absolute” and that “religious revelations lead to hidden truth.” In addition, subjects with thin boundaries exhibited “imagination inflation” (“false memory” for a counterfactual event after imagining it), whereas subjects with thick boundaries exhibited “imagination deflation” (greater confidence in the non-occurrence of a counterfactual event after imagining it).