credulity

Credulity is the tendency to believe claims, statements, or rumors with little or no evidence. It can describe a general disposition to accept assertions as true or to accept a specific statement without critical scrutiny. The term derives from Latin credulus “believing,” from credere “to believe.”

In psychology and cognitive science, credulity is studied as a component of belief formation and social influence. It is related to trust, openness to new information, and susceptibility to misinformation, but is distinguished from gullibility in everyday use by emphasis on excessive belief rather than deliberate deception. Factors that promote credulity include social endorsement, authority cues, repetition, cognitive load, and limited time to evaluate claims, as well as cognitive biases such as confirmation bias and the bandwagon effect.

Historically, credulity has appeared in debates about religion, superstition, and science. Some traditions valorize childlike credulity as openness to truth, while others condemn it as a vice that leads to credulous acceptance of falsehoods. In modern discourse, credulity is often cited in discussions of misinformation, propaganda, and critical thinking, highlighting the tension between openness to new ideas and the need for evidence-based evaluation.

Related concepts include gullibility, skepticism, belief formation, and trust.