A review and integration of models on delusion maintenance
Tania M Lincoln, Henning Romberg, David Torrents-Rodas, Antonia Bott · 2026
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Description
Tania Lincoln and co-authors published a 2026 review of why delusions, fixed false beliefs, stay in place once they form. Such beliefs are defined by how hard they are to shift with evidence against them. Most earlier models look at how delusions start, not at how they persist.
The team searched the field for models of that persistence and found seventy-four. They fall into six groups, from probability-based reasoning to social life. Most groups agree on two points. Behavior that avoids clashing with the belief is rewarded, which reinforces the belief. And the belief, once formed, bends how new information is processed. The team weaves the groups into one path: early risk, a search for meaning in unclear events, the birth of the belief, and feedback loops that sustain it. The combined view, they say, tells a much fuller story of persistence than any single group.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Tania M Lincoln, Henning Romberg, David Torrents-Rodas, Antonia Bott |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 46 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |