Definition
A cognitive tendency in which a person continues to hold a belief even after the evidence that originally supported it has been shown to be wrong or unreliable. In aviation human factors, it describes a pilot's resistance to updating an initial assessment of a situation when new information contradicts it.
Plain English
Sticking with what you first thought, even after you've been shown it isn't true. Once a pilot decides what's going on, it can be hard to let that picture go, even when the facts start saying something different.
Context Anchor
Seen in aviation human factors, especially in discussions of pilot judgment, decision-making, and accident causes.
Derivation
From 'belief' (something accepted as true) and 'perseverance' (continuing despite difficulty, from Latin perseverare, 'to persist'). Together: the persistence of a belief past the point where it should have been let go.
Why Pilots Care
Can cause a pilot to continue into deteriorating weather or ignore new data that should change the plan.
Analogy
It is like deciding before a trip that a road is open, then ignoring several signs that say it is closed because you still expect it to be open.
Grounding Statement
In the cockpit, belief perseverance can show up when a pilot keeps treating a situation as normal after the airplane, weather, or instruments start showing that it is not.
Intuition Check
Belief perseverance does not mean strong confidence. It means holding onto a belief after there is good reason to question it.
Example Sentence 1
The instructor used the diversion exercise to show how belief perseverance can keep a pilot heading toward deteriorating weather long after the conditions warranted a turnback.
Example Sentence 2
During the debrief the instructor pointed out the student's belief perseverance in rejecting the simulator's updated fuel data.