Someone Asks “What Is A Popular Belief That Has Been Scientifically Proven Wrong?” And People Deliver 30 Illuminating Responses
Interview
The tricky thing with beliefs is that we all think ours are correct. When actually, almost everything we believe, at some point in our lives, will eventually be at least partially wrong.
Not only are we often unaware of it, but we also have no idea of how to determine which of our pieces of common knowledge are incorrect. So when someone asked “What is a popular belief that is scientifically proven wrong?” on Ask Reddit, the responses started rolling in one by one.
From thinking that you can catch a cold by being in cold temperatures to the belief that gum gets stuck in your stomach for eternity, here are the most popular beliefs that are very far from true.
We reached out to Audrey Tang, an award-winning book author, psychologist and spokesperson who shared some very interesting insights into how popular beliefs and common knowledge emerge, how they are passed through generations, and how it all comes down to the fact that humans are social creatures. Scroll down for the interview below!
This post may include affiliate links.
Homosexuality has been proven to be natural. It's not a disease or whatever. It has been observed in hundreds of species.
And even if it wasn't natural it doesn't effect u so shut up
“Stories have a way of taking on a life of their own, especially in the landscape of social media,” Audrey said. She explained: “Citations are not always given, elements may be changed as the story moves along, and a little bit like gossip, or the 'broken telephone' – eventually a narrative makes its way into popular belief and often is so removed from the original as to be unrecognizable (and example of this is the oft-cited in leadership posts (especially on LinkedIn).”
More importantly, stories are compelling because they give us a sense of completeness. “Research into false memories has shown that when elements of memory are missing we ‘fill in the gaps’ – and this may not be an accurate account.”
Torture doesn’t work.
It has never worked. It was proven that torture doesn’t work before America was colonized.
Torture DOES produce confessions, but it doesn’t reveal the truth.
As a cat lover, it always drives me insane that so many people will automatically give a stray they found milk. Most cats are lactose intolerant.
You don't have to wait 24 hours to call the police to file a missing person's report. Never wait 24 hours. Every hour that passes means you are less likely to find said person. Dead or alive.
that always confused me. If they consider the first 72 hours the most important, then why would you have to wait for the first 24??
Furthermore, Audrey explained, “We tend to make sense of those gaps based on our world experience at the time – an example of this is, sadly, where a child of divorce may think that a parent left ‘because of them’ – if it has not been explained to them in accessible and understandable language.”
“This is not always the parent’s fault as they too are going through a great deal of emotional upheaval, but dismissing a child’s questions can sometimes lead to the child reconstructing an approximation of what is really going on.”
Related to that, Audrey continues, “When a story resonates with an experience we have been through (or believe we have been through!), we are also more likely to connect with it because of the familiarity.”
Back in the olden days, people just turned 30 or so and died.
The infant mortality rate was just much higher, but if you made it to adulthood, living to be a senior was not that rare.
Exactly. "Life expectancy" simply factoring in infant and childhood mortality. People still got old.
Most dietary information that is widely accepted by the public was from studies that have been proven wrong since the 70s
Goldfish have a three second memory.
They don’t and, supposedly, you can even train them to do tricks.
Audrey argues that research suggests that our brains seem better wired to process and recall facts set out as a story rather than facts alone.
“For example, the colors of the rainbow may be remembered using the mnemonic 'Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain,' and similarly, groups of numbers which can be 'chunked' into memorable dates, e.g,. 1066 instead of 1,0,6,6, are better recalled as well.”
And when it comes to popular myths, Audrey suggests that they may occur through people connecting with them and repeating them. “Perhaps if details are changed to suit the storyteller, again, that story takes on even more strength as more people may relate to it and repeat it,” she told Bored Panda.
There is an alpha wolf in a pack.
Like the person who made the first claim debunked his own claim, but nobody cared.
I see so many of these self proclaimed alphas nowadays and it annoys the hell out of me. If you say you're an alpha, I automatically consider you scum. "Alphas" are usually misogynistic a******s who influence kids or other equally dumb adults. You are not an alpha, you are a douche. Stop it.
Used to be a popular belief that if you sit to close to the tv your eyes will go bad. But Ive recently come to realize that children who sit “too close” to the tv might already have poor vision, but cannot communicate it, so when they go get their eyes checked it appears that the causation is them sitting to close to the tv, when it was probably genetics or other factors. Thus causing people to think that the cause was them sitting too close to tv.
You can catch colds from being outside without a hat. Colds are caused by viruses, not cold temperatures
But colder temperatures make ur immune system weaker and therefore it's easier to catch a cold
When it is cold, people tend to congregate in warm areas in large groups, allowing the easier spread of illnesses. People who permanently live in colder areas don't get sick more frequently than those in temperate or hot areas.
Load More Replies...
Being cold for a long period of time reduces your body's ability to fight off infection. Being cold doesn't give you a cold, but you are more likely to catch one.
And your nose gets less effective filtering out vira and bacteria when it gets too cold
Load More Replies...
And that they are only spread by sneezing, coughing and touching your face and then other things. The virus lives and breed on the walls of the throat and lungs. Viruses are so small (0.4 to 0.2 microns) they can attach to the moisture in your breath and can be spread just by breathing up to 8 metres. This is why you appear to catch colds in an office even when not being near a person or touching the same things they have. It's also the reason most masks wont protect against a virus. Most masks only filter particles larger than 3 microns. A virus is 100 times smaller. And that is not allowing for the bad fitting allowing larger particles to be sucked in from the sides. It is like trying to catch rain with a tennis racket.
Interesting side note. There has been an argument for a long time about if viruses are actually living things. Some say they are as they feed on organic matter and then reproduce. Just like many living organisms.
Load More Replies...
I am sensing that there is negation required in the first sentence.
The first sentence is the popular belief, the second the science.
Load More Replies...
Also, viruses outside the body die/breakdown faster in a hot environment, but can stay viable for longer in cold weather, so in winter, they linger on surfaces for longer and get picked up by more people. In one study, Covid would last around 2 days at 20°C, but only a few hours at 40°C (https://virologyj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12985-020-01418-7)
This is false. Everyone with a Mexican mother knows you really get colds from not wearing socks.
No force on earth will convince my parents that this isn't true. Furthermore wet = cold, so they freak out and insist that I change my clothes any time I get slightly damp. It's even weirder because we're from the tropics. I'm semi-convinced that they secretly belive that I am a witch and will spontaneously combust if I get wet.
They just proved why you get sick in the colder weather. It harms your nasal mucus membranes making viruses easier to enter your body!!
https://www.healthline.com/health-news/scientists-finally-figure-out-why-youre-more-likely-to-get-sick-in-cold-weather
Load More Replies...
Or that you lose more heat from your head than anywhere else. You lose heat from any uncovered part of your body, it's just more people cover everything but their heads especially if they have thick hair so naturally heat is lost from your head in that case. If you don't wear gloves, or socks and shoes, or whatever, that's where you'll lose heat.
My Dad always got onto me for going outside in the cold with wet hair lol
True. I wonder if this idea came about because people with chronic bronchitis will cough & get congested when it's cold, even thought they aren't "sick." My daughter was like this. As a toddler, when we had no AC, my daughter liked to sleep with no top. If it got cool, however, she would start coughing in the night & the next day be a bit croupy. If I made her wear a shirt, she would be fine.
A recent study has shown that it's the temperature in your nose that can cause you to be more susceptible to catching a cold. Basically, keep your nasal passages warmer, and you increase your immunity. Another good reason for wearing a mask during cold/flu season.
so your saying i can wear this darth reven mask and i wont catch a cold?
Load More Replies... I read that, at colder temperatures the bacteria, that can fight off cold (that live in the nose) die at an alarming rate. So when it is cold and your nose bacteria die, you are more likely to get a cold because the bacteria can't fight it off. This was based a new study that came out 2023
During cold temperatures, you're more likely to pick something up because you're in a closed environment with people.
These comments are amazing. TOPIC:. You can catch a cold from being outside is a myth. COMMENTS:. Every m**o on BP coming up with their own half baked theory 😂. Fact is that this phenomenon is not well understood. No full explanation has ever been found. It's a really interesting area, because almost every virus is seasonal, not just respiratory diseases.
This comes from the "Dangerous Half Truths" Department. It is true, that a cold is caused by viruses. It is not true, that cold temperatures doesn't play a significant role! Our body fights against tons of potential pathogens all day long. Our immune system can keep flu viruses in check to such an extent that the so-called germ load or germ threshold tends in our favor. But you're likely to catch a cold if you stay in a wet-cold-windy weather situation longer than your clothes can maintain a cozy 36.5 to 37.0 degrees body temperature. If not, you'll reveal a small leak in the protective shield and you'll start to party for about 9 days. That's why a cold is called a "cold". Alternatively, I suggest calling it a "trudi" (trunk disease). Who joins in?
Im not aware this is true. Can you point me to something to find out. more please?
Load More Replies...
THIS when I was younger I got into an argument with my mom about this (I was saying it had nothing to do with temperature). She did the mom thing of shutting me down (I was winning) with "I'm your mother and I say so"
that's why there is the definition: "disease due to cold" (sorry for translation, but I don't know how do better)
One reason you're more likely to get a cold in the winter is that the "protective layer" that encases a virus in more easily destroyed in high temperatures. As a result, virus don't live outside the body as long in summer.
The cold can influence behaviors that make it easier to catch colds but no, it isnt the direct cause. You should still bundle up if it's cold. This fact is one of those that is true but misses the point all at the same time.
My family still believes that eating/drinking anything below lukewarm temperature will cause you to catch cold. And if you're sick you HAVE to drink only hot drinks. Can you imagine being forced to drink hot tea while suffering from very painful angina?
It’s because you’re indoors and surrounded by people at a closed range.
Temperature is key. In cold weather, if your nose is uncovered and you are breathing through it, the temp inside the nose drops. This makes it easier for virus/bacterium to gain a foot hold. Human body temperature rises when fighting an infection to help kill the virus/bacterium. Higher temp = dead virus/bacteria. I
I will never believe this, ever. Preschool teacher here, the kids who refuse to wear a jacket are always the kids who get sick. ALWAYS
Being out in the cold and not wearing a coat etc can mess with your core temperature and bring on a fever as your body tries to regulate its temperature again. It weakens your immune system and because cold viruses are present in colder weather, they love your nice, newly cold body more than a warm one. On top of that, you can get hypothermia if out in the cold for too long. So wrap up warm!
I agree with the virus theory, but my experience getting sick after being very cold is overwhelming. Sore throat, etc.
I believe that the reason that this.myth sprung out is because people stay inside during winter. There are cold viruses year round, and when people go inside they get more people exposed.
I very rarely wear a hat. I get no more colds in the winter than any other time of the year.
There is probably some joke about not catching a cold but getting pregnant for not 'wearing' a Dutch Cap in cold weather
No because the first sentence is the belief that science has proved wrong. So it is correct
Load More Replies... 
There’s also an explanation for why particular common beliefs disappear while others remain something people believe throughout generations. “Many beliefs that are passed through generations have a strong link with culture and tradition, and even though there may be no reason for engaging with them because they are part of your personal story, you feel connected with it,” Audrey explained.
According to her, Christmas traditions are a lovely example of this: “my own mother-in-law always makes a Christmas Gift Cracker as this was something that she had enjoyed when she was young. Not having children personally, it is not something I will be passing down, but my husband’s cousins might, and thus whenever this tradition plays out, we are reminded of the happy times at Christmas.”
Most things that tout "detoxifying" properties.
You have livers and kidneys to do the job (I think I might be missing a few organs here)
The belief that sugar causes hyperactivity in children. This belief has been around for decades, but numerous scientific studies have shown that there is no evidence to support it.
On the other hand, sometimes certain beliefs are extremely questionable as society changes, Audrey added. “It is hoped that many rules also change accordingly, or, where that is not possible, that enough people become aware of the original rule, find no basis for it to be true, and create their own, which then grow because of their acceptability in the modern world.”
“A less contentious example, but still a problematic one that is changing, is the view that in some cultures, mental ill health is simply not discussed. As we learn more about mental health diagnoses, cultures become more accepting as to why certain behaviors may be happening and what can be done about it, they blame less and grow more,” Audrey explained.
Cracking knuckles = arthritis
There was a dude that cracked only one hand for like 30 years to prove his mom wrong.
“Fish don’t feel pain” , and simultaneously “Fish do feel pain” are both arguments which ignore centuries of research.
They lack a Neocortex which deems them unable to “process” pain, however they have several nociceptors located around the mouth which allows them to “feel it”. What does this mean? Well nobody actually knows yet, and it is largely open to interpretation. It’s unfathomably hard for us to understand, as we can both feel and process pain. Some scientists describe “acting on instinct” as symptoms of pain when these nociceptors become compromised. Some scientists describe it as just that though, acting on instinct based on what parts of their body are compromised and hence weaker or vulnerable.
For example : You hook and release a bass. That Bass now moves slower, eats a little less, and socializes less. Are these actions the result of the fish acknowledging the compromised nociceptors and acting accordingly while giving itself a chance to heal? Or is the fish genuinely hurting and sad? Research points to both being correct, but neither have enough evidence to prove anything yet.
All we know with certainty is that we don’t have a definite answer supporting either argument, so anyone that leans hard one way or another doesn’t know what they are talking about.
Thank you for acknowledging that we still have so much to learn about our fellow creatures! Pain or not, fish are still animals and deserve respect.
The Minister of Digital Affairs of Taiwan also argues that often, “a little bit like social media hashtags, the enduring narratives are those which resonate closely with the zeitgeist at the time, such as #metoo.”
Moreover, endorsements from celebrities can make a difference as well. “Not only does research show that celebrity endorsements are more likely to make you believe a certain thing, but to also not check it for credibility.”
Audrey explained that inviting a psychologist to comment on an article and adding the phrase “backed by science” can do the same thing. “As I always say – 'backed by science,' says NOTHING about the reliability, validity or even relevance of the research as a whole, nor the population it was based on.”
Hiding under a highway overpass is actually not a good way to survive a tornado.
It has been scientifically proven that the wind gets concentrated and the speeds increase underneath the overpass.
If you aren’t shielded by a bridge girder or something similar you’ll just get swept away and mulched.
Your best bet for survival if you cannot escape the tornado is to find the nearest deep ditch or hole.
Find a ditch and get flat. A tornado can pick up a car and throw it just fine. Better to be flat and in a ditch face down with your hands over your head.
That we taste different things in different areas on the tongue.
You can swim after you eat it's no problem
Well, not in my case. If I eat and make any kind of physical activity (even walking back home or something) I feel terribly nauseous. My blood pressure is quite low, so taking hot showers after eating is also not well received by my body lol
Lightning never strikes in one place twice.
Just ask Roy. https://virginradio.co.uk/lifestyle/92446/meet-the-man-who-survived-being-struck-by-lightning-seven-times
That bubblegum get stuck in your stomach for 99999999999900000 years
That rice will make the birds who eat it explode. Birds eat rice all the time! It's actually good for them, especially brown rice.
I believe this myth was made up so people would stop throwing rice at weddings, but harming the birds wasn't an actual risk. It was getting rice grains stuck in your ear that was.
I was under the belief it was bad for them to eat their weight in rice at weddings, which is why we switched to bird seed…then the same thing happened, so now we do bubbles. But if you’re me, you just eloped and are coconut cake in your hotel room.
Don't know if it's been said yet still scrolling, but that male lions don't hunt or do anything. Yes, lionesses do most of the hunting but males do help if the prey is too big and strong, such as with cape buffalo or giraffe. Males do a lot, staying back and protecting the territory which is very important if there are cubs, not to mention that the mane not only blows their cover more when hunting, but it tires them out quickly as it's a bunch of hair weighing on their head. Males also have to leave their birth pride at a certain age which of course until they can find a pride, they at that point have to hunt.
Also on the topic of African animals (wildlife nerd) hyenas hunt more than lions and are more successful predators, and hyenas aren't dogs. Elephants don't think you or any human is cute.
Edit: I was told wrong a lion's mane doesn't weigh as much as I thought, but it does have more of a negative effect on their hunting compared to a lioness.
That eggs are bad for you.
That eggs are good for you.
Its been proven that it completely depends on your own genetic makeup on if they are good or bad for you. For some people they're healthy, for others they're not and they're bad cholesterol level skyrockets.
For MOST people eggs are healthy. One of the functions of your liver is to regulate your cholesterol to a level that's optimal for your own body. If you eat a lot of cholesterol rich food, the liver will lower its production of cholesterol. If you eat sparingly of cholesterol rich food, the liver will increase its cholesterol production.
Carrots do not improve your eyesight.
this was propaganda by the british government in world war 2 to hide the fact they had radar
A frog thrown in a pot of boiling water will jump out immediately. If a frog is put in a pot of cool water and that water is slowly warmed, the frog won’t notice and boil to death.
This is indeed false
That you can “alkalize” your body to prevent or cure disease.
Women's periods don't sync up when they live together. Any syncing that occurs is a result of a coincidental overlap of their individual cycles.
But it's with ALL my afab friends. Every single last 1. How can a coincidence like that happen?
I just read it recently that people believe that consuming alcohol moderately has some health benefits but it was proven by a recent study that it does not have any health benefits at all.
That's also not true. Different drinks have different effects. "A recent study..." will be contradicted by tomorrows recent study. The reality is that there are positive and negative effects at the same time. So a study that tries to find one thing will find it, but it will exclude the other things, because that wasn't part of the research.
Half of these are just sharing the wrong belief on it's own, the other half are sharing the corrected thoughts. Really damn confusing when one post says "Gum sits in your stomach for x years" and the next says "Homosexuality is natural". Can we please stick to either sharing the lie OR sharing the truth and not mix and matching them without any indication which is which?
I was just about to say the same thing! I can't tell which are saying the false belief, and which are saying the correction.
Load More Replies...
Feminine and masculine energy BS. I have friends who truly believe that certain activities are inherently ‘feminine’ and when I said that’s completely man made and tied to cultural norms they were adamant that it was a truly biological thing… :-/
oh dang I wasn't expecting you to say they thought it was biological.. It's totally man made. Ugh some people should Google more (that also includes me)
Load More Replies...
There is a severe lack of science in this "science has proven" thread. "I've noticed..." isn't science.
You mean it lacks scientific method or biology and social science aren't science ?
Load More Replies...
If people are going to talk about studies, they should have to cite them. I mean, I could say "it was proven by a recent study that all people named Kevin have a vestigial tail that looks like a pinky finger." That carries just as much weight as anything else here that does not have a source. If you want to prove something wrong, then PROVE it wrong. Back up your "correction".
In my opinion all these threads cause even more confusion…some aren’t even proven
Ok, I have a real one for this list, I think it’s a little more well-known now, but it was spread a lot in prior years: Baby birds will NOT be rejected by their parents if they have “human scent” on them. #1. Birds do not have that strong of a sense of smell; and #2. They have very strong parental instincts. If at all possible, return fallen babies to the nest, and if not, contact a rehabilitator in your area. And please do NOT try to raise the baby yourself if you do not have the proper materials and training!
I STILL don't know if high fructose corn syrup carries an increased risk of obesity and diabetes. Literally half the scientific literature says "yes" and the other half says "no". One says that the body has a more difficult time metabolizing fructose compared with glucose, and so tends to store it as fat, and the fructose can affect insulin levels in the liver. Then other scientific articles say that there's absolutely no proof of that. Which do I believe? I know this: Prior to 1980, lots of people ate lots of snacks. Plenty of plenty of people sat inside all day watching tv. Lots of people ate too much. But during the 1980s, first soft drinks and then a LOT of foods switched to HFCS and suddenly obesity and diabetes rates soared. Certainly I'm aware of Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc (and similar) fallacies, but it still seems suspicious to me.
My dad was 100% certain the hair dye changed the color of your hair permanently. Not the dyed part, mind you, but the color of the hair that grew out afterward. It didn't matter how many times I explained that the dark hair was my natural hair color and the light blond he remembered was my hair bleached by the sun.
The comments on the post are hilarious. Here are a hundred myths in the comments about why the post was a myth.
One gram of uranium-235 has just about 20 billion calories. A meal to last a life time
They're released to slowly for it to be useful. Only about 100 calories a day I think. Digestion of it is so slow it's like a McRib
Load More Replies... Half of these are just sharing the wrong belief on it's own, the other half are sharing the corrected thoughts. Really damn confusing when one post says "Gum sits in your stomach for x years" and the next says "Homosexuality is natural". Can we please stick to either sharing the lie OR sharing the truth and not mix and matching them without any indication which is which?
I was just about to say the same thing! I can't tell which are saying the false belief, and which are saying the correction.
Load More Replies... Feminine and masculine energy BS. I have friends who truly believe that certain activities are inherently ‘feminine’ and when I said that’s completely man made and tied to cultural norms they were adamant that it was a truly biological thing… :-/
oh dang I wasn't expecting you to say they thought it was biological.. It's totally man made. Ugh some people should Google more (that also includes me)
Load More Replies... There is a severe lack of science in this "science has proven" thread. "I've noticed..." isn't science.
You mean it lacks scientific method or biology and social science aren't science ?
Load More Replies... If people are going to talk about studies, they should have to cite them. I mean, I could say "it was proven by a recent study that all people named Kevin have a vestigial tail that looks like a pinky finger." That carries just as much weight as anything else here that does not have a source. If you want to prove something wrong, then PROVE it wrong. Back up your "correction".
In my opinion all these threads cause even more confusion…some aren’t even proven
Ok, I have a real one for this list, I think it’s a little more well-known now, but it was spread a lot in prior years: Baby birds will NOT be rejected by their parents if they have “human scent” on them. #1. Birds do not have that strong of a sense of smell; and #2. They have very strong parental instincts. If at all possible, return fallen babies to the nest, and if not, contact a rehabilitator in your area. And please do NOT try to raise the baby yourself if you do not have the proper materials and training!
I STILL don't know if high fructose corn syrup carries an increased risk of obesity and diabetes. Literally half the scientific literature says "yes" and the other half says "no". One says that the body has a more difficult time metabolizing fructose compared with glucose, and so tends to store it as fat, and the fructose can affect insulin levels in the liver. Then other scientific articles say that there's absolutely no proof of that. Which do I believe? I know this: Prior to 1980, lots of people ate lots of snacks. Plenty of plenty of people sat inside all day watching tv. Lots of people ate too much. But during the 1980s, first soft drinks and then a LOT of foods switched to HFCS and suddenly obesity and diabetes rates soared. Certainly I'm aware of Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc (and similar) fallacies, but it still seems suspicious to me.
My dad was 100% certain the hair dye changed the color of your hair permanently. Not the dyed part, mind you, but the color of the hair that grew out afterward. It didn't matter how many times I explained that the dark hair was my natural hair color and the light blond he remembered was my hair bleached by the sun.
The comments on the post are hilarious. Here are a hundred myths in the comments about why the post was a myth.
One gram of uranium-235 has just about 20 billion calories. A meal to last a life time
They're released to slowly for it to be useful. Only about 100 calories a day I think. Digestion of it is so slow it's like a McRib
Load More Replies... 