This repository contains the complete codebase used for the study “Maladaptive Perseveration: The Impact of Irrefutable Belief Systems on Insightful Reasoning.” It includes: a) all Dutch and translated stimuli that were used in the experiment b) the full code of the Psychopy experiment c) the raw data of the experiment d) the full code of the analysis of the raw data (both R and Python) e) all figures that were used in the main text & supplementary materials
Belief systems that resist contradictory evidence can make individuals less open to changing their perspective, possibly affecting their ability to effectively navigate complex problem domains. To explore this, 60 participants took part in a 55-minute experiment where they temporarily adopted either refutable or irrefutable reasoning styles prior to insight tasks. After exposure to rigid cognitive frameworks, participants had more difficulty with insightful reasoning where representational change was a prerequisite for finding the solution, as indicated by an overall increase in reaction time. A second analysis found that participants who were more drawn to irrefutable belief systems had an overall poorer performance on the insight tasks. These findings suggest that frequent engagement with such beliefs may hinder the mental flexibility needed to adaptively restructure ideas. Given the importance of repetitive negative thinking across many psychopathologies, future research could potentially benefit from incorporating the degree of falsifiability as a novel transdiagnostic variable into contemporary etiological models.
Keywords: irrefutable reasoning · constraint relaxation · maladaptive perseveration
Note.
A) For classical insight tasks, the DFU condition shows a higher density for longer reaction times compared to the F condition (upper plot). Gaussian model fits across tasks further illustrate between-task variability (lower plot).
B) A similar pattern emerges for RAT data: DFU trials yield higher densities at longer reaction times than F trials.
Note.
A) The DFU affinity index correlates significantly with reaction times on classical tasks only. The inverted F index shows correlations with both classical accuracy and modern reaction times, though none survive Bonferroni correction.
B) Overall insight performance (BI score) correlates moderately and significantly with DFU affinity; the inverted F index correlation is weaker and marginal.
These results provide preliminary evidence that irrefutable belief systems impair insightful reasoning by delaying adaptive representational change. The effect is robust under both acute priming and measures of chronic affinity, particularly visible in delayed reaction times. Future studies should employ alternative paradigms and validated materials to replicate and extend these findings.