Epistemic Arrogance: A Tool for Greater Meaning in Life? (2024)

Undergraduate: Francisco Ceccotti

Faculty Advisor: Kurt Gray
Department: Psychology & Neuroscience

---

In pilot work, we have shown that epistemic arrogance promotes perceptions of meaning in life. The practical implications of this finding are problematic. Epistemic arrogance fuels religious and partisan extremism, yet helps people experience meaningful lives. We seek to understand why epistemic arrogance promotes meaning in life, for whom it is especially likely to do so, with the aim of developing an intervention that reduces epistemic arrogance while leaving meaning in life intact.