Denialism

Extracted Attributes

• Examples

  Holocaust denial, AIDS denialism, climate change denial, mental illness denial, historical negationism, election denialism, denial of scientific facts such as evolution or vaccination efficacy.

• Motivations

  Religion, self-interest (economic, political, or financial), and defense mechanisms meant to protect the psyche against mentally disturbing facts and ideas (cognitive dissonance).

• Common Feature

  Rejecting overwhelming evidence and trying to generate political controversy in attempts to deny the existence of consensus.

• Definition (Psychology)

  A person's choice to deny reality as a way to avoid believing in an uncomfortable truth; an irrational human behavior that withholds the validation of a historical experience or event when a person refuses to accept an empirically verifiable reality.

• Psychological Mechanism

  Defense mechanism to avoid cognitive dissonance.

• Definition (Science/Historiography)

  Rejection of basic facts and concepts that are undisputed, well-supported parts of the scientific consensus or historical record on a subject, in favor of ideas that are radical, controversial, or fabricated.

Timeline

• Hamas October 7th attacks in Israel, which involved systematic sexual violence, became a subject of widespread denialism. (Source: Related Document)

  2023-10-07

• Sheryl Sandberg expresses profound shock and disappointment over the widespread denialism of atrocities committed by Hamas during the October 7th attacks, linking it to political polarization, anti-Semitism, and a troubling silence from some segments of the feminism movement. (Source: Related Document)

  2023-10-07

• Sheryl Sandberg's documentary 'Screams Before Silence' focuses on documenting the systematic use of sexual violence by Hamas and addresses the denialism surrounding these events. (Source: Related Document)

  2023-10-07

Denialism

In the sciences and in historiography, denialism is the rejection of basic facts and concepts that are undisputed, well-supported parts of the scientific consensus or historical record on a subject, in favor of ideas that are radical, controversial, or fabricated. Examples include Holocaust denial, AIDS denialism, and climate change denial. The forms of denialism present the common feature of the person rejecting overwhelming evidence and trying to generate political controversy in attempts to deny the existence of consensus. In psychology, denialism is a person's choice to deny reality as a way to avoid believing in an uncomfortable truth. Denialism is an essentially irrational human behavior that withholds the validation of a historical experience or event when a person refuses to accept an empirically verifiable reality. The motivations and causes of denialism include religion, self-interest (economic, political, or financial), and defence mechanisms meant to protect the psyche of the denialist against mentally disturbing facts and ideas; such disturbance is called cognitive dissonance.

Web Search Results

• Understanding Denialism: A Dive into the Psychology of Denying ...

  Intrinsic to human nature, denialism often stems from an innate defense mechanism to avoid cognitive dissonance — the mental stress or discomfort arising from simultaneously holding two or more contradictory beliefs. This phenomenon is not limited to individuals — it extends to collective consciousness and institutional attitudes, echoing in realms such as politics, science, history, and more. Denialism can manifest in various forms, including climate change denial, Holocaust denial, and even [...] Sign up Sign in Sign up Sign in Member-only story # Understanding Denialism: A Dive into the Psychology of Denying Facts Ilene Strauss Cohen -- Share In human behavior and psychology, denialism is a term that captures an individual’s choice to reject reality as a way to evade acknowledging an uncomfortable truth. It is characterized by the refusal to accept the existence, truth, or validity of something, regardless of solid evidence or proof substantiating its reality. [...] the denial of scientific facts such as evolution or vaccination efficacy. Understanding denialism is crucial not just from a psychological perspective but also for societal growth and progress, as it often poses an impediment to fact-based decision-making and consensus-building.

• Denialism - Wikipedia

  Mental illness denial or mental disorder denial is where a person denies the existence of mental disorders. Serious analysts, as well as pseudoscientific movements, question the existence of certain disorders. A minority of professional researchers see disorders such as depression from a sociocultural perspective and argue that the solution to it is fixing a dysfunction in society, not in the person's brain. Some people may also deny that they have a mental illness after being diagnosed, and [...] Historical negationism, the denialism of widely accepted historical facts, is a major source of concern among historians and it is frequently used to falsify or distort accepted historical events. In attempting to revise the past, negationists are distinguished by the use of techniques inadmissible in proper historical discourse, such as presenting known forged documents as genuine, inventing ingenious but implausible reasons for distrusting genuine documents, attributing conclusions to books [...] AIDS denialism is the denial that the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is the cause of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). AIDS denialism has been described as being "among the most vocal anti-science denial movements". Some denialists reject the existence of HIV, while others accept that the virus exists but say that it is a harmless passenger virus and not the cause of AIDS. Insofar as denialists acknowledge AIDS as a real disease, they attribute it to some combination of

• DENIALISM Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com

  Advertisement Skip to denialism Advertisement # denialism [dih-nahy-uh-lizuhm] ## noun to refuse to accept the existence, truth, or validity of something despite evidence or reasonable support for it. Her cynical embrace of election denialism was part of her campaign strategy rather than a reflection of sincerely held concern for ballot security. ## Usage ## Word History and Origins Origin of denialism1 ## Example Sentences Climate denialism, on the other hand, is not. [...] And at its most abhorrent, “Riefenstahl” reveals a pernicious denialism too significant to ignore. And Kennedy has a long history of HIV denialism. The case is unique and momentous because this is the only proceeding where Eastman, along with supporting denialist enthusiasts, testified under oath, cross-examined their critics and presented their full denialism defense. [...] The case is unique and momentous because this is the only proceeding where Eastman, along with supporting denialist enthusiasts, testified under oath, cross-examined their critics and presented their full denialism defense. Advertisement Advertisement carambola ad carousel Advertisement Advertisement #### Browse Follow us Get the Word of the Day every day! By clicking "Sign Up", you are accepting Dictionary.com Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policies. Quantcast

• DENIALISM | definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary

  Glass half full: talking about optimism and pessimism <p>best friend dictionary New Words best friend dictionary cdo logo cdo logo cdo logo cdo logo ## Learn more with +Plus ## Learn more with +Plus Cambridge Dictionary Cambridge Dictionary To add denialism to a word list please sign up or log in. Add denialism to one of your lists below, or create a new one. {{message}} {{message}} Something went wrong. {{message}} {{message}} Something went wrong. {{message}} {{message}} [...] Cambridge Dictionary Cambridge Dictionary Online # Meaning of denialism in English Your browser doesn't support HTML5 audio Your browser doesn't support HTML5 audio ## Browse {{randomImageQuizHook.quizId}} {{randomImageQuizHook.quizId}} ## More meanings of denialism Word of the Day tea leaves the mass of leaves in a cup or teapot that have had water poured on them to make tea Glass half full: talking about optimism and pessimism Blog [...] There was a problem sending your report. {{message}} {{message}} There was a problem sending your report.

• Denial as a Defense Mechanism - Verywell Mind

  Denial is a type of defense mechanism that involves ignoring the reality of a situation to avoid anxiety. Defense mechanisms are strategies that people use to cope with distressing feelings. In the case of denial, it can involve not acknowledging reality or denying the consequences of that reality. [...] Denial is a common way for people to avoid dealing with troubling feelings. Some examples: ## Impact of Denial Denial isn't always a bad thing. When dealing with something shocking or distressing, being in denial can give you a little time and space to gradually, often unconsciously, come to grips with the change. [...] Denial is sometimes seen more often with certain types of mental health conditions. People who have substance abuse disorder, alcohol use disorder, and narcissistic personality disorder, for example, may use this defense mechanism more often to avoid facing the reality of their condition. Denying a problem exists allows the individual to continue engaging in destructive behavior without addressing the problem. ## Examples of Denial

In the psychology of human behavior, denialism is a person's choice to deny reality as a way to avoid a psychologically uncomfortable truth. Denialism is an essentially irrational action that withholds the validation of a historical experience or event when a person refuses to accept an empirically verifiable reality. In the sciences, denialism is the rejection of basic facts and concepts that are undisputed, well-supported parts of the scientific consensus on a subject, in favor of ideas that are radical, controversial, or fabricated. The terms Holocaust denial and AIDS denialism describe the denial of the facts and the reality of the subject matters, and the term climate change denial describes denial of the scientific consensus that the climate change of planet Earth is a real and occurring event primarily caused in geologically recent times by human activity. The forms of denialism present the common feature of the person rejecting overwhelming evidence and trying to generate political controversy in attempts to deny the existence of consensus. The motivations and causes of denialism include religion, self-interest (economic, political, or financial), and defence mechanisms meant to protect the psyche of the denialist against mentally disturbing facts and ideas; such disturbance is called cognitive dissonance in psychology terms.