Why do some misconceptions persist?

Why do some misconceptions persist?

One tempting answer might be that people are ignorant.

But people being generally ignorant actually has no explanatory power for why specific misconceptions persist rather than others.

Misconceptions can be thought of as memes that propagate through minds, akin to how genes propagate through gene pools.

To grow in population, a misconception must (1) survive and (2) reproduce.

Survival is highest among conceptions that (a) are not obviously wrong, and (b) don’t get in the way of living your life.

Reproduction is highest among conceptions that (a) are easy to share, and (b) motivate people to share them.

If we want to design societies where truth wins out over falsehood, this framework suggests we should work to make misconceptions less survivable or less viral.