So this is an interesting point and shouldn't be dismissed, it may be at the heart of irrational beliefs. People can 'come to believe' what benefits them. If

So this is an interesting point and shouldn't be dismissed, it may be at the heart of irrational beliefs. People can 'come to believe' what benefits them. If an idea is truly exciting or engaging, or makes people feel special, or part of a 'group' esp. of 'special people' - it's just more likely we believe those things as 'factual'. So in a way - though they would 'pass a lie detector test' and 'truly believe in a flat earth' - it's predicate upon all those things - it's an impassioned or subjective kind of belief. They would act almost perfectly rationally if you asked them about some completely mundane subject like rocks rolling down a hill. Our egos tend to believe it when we're told we are good, and tend to be dismissive when we are told we're bad at something, that right there is evidence we're not very objective about taking in data to begin with.