The malleability of memory compounds this effect. When you search your memory, you are more likely to retrieve information that will support it and avoid exposure to information that will disconfirm it. If you fail to avoid it, you attack the validity and credibility of the source, or categorize it as an exception. It gives you a sense that you're not alone, and helps ease feelings of being powerless. He describes belief systems as a metaphoric representation of our parents, providing a release from authority and responsibility.
People have a built-in predilection that wishes for assistance and support.
This is an extension of childhood, where there were always people around us who control our life. Beliefs like astrology and even religion are a projection that there are forces in the heavens that are like your parents. Lilienfeld advises citizens to consider how pseudosciences pose concrete threats by weakening critical thinking and minimizing a person's sense of control and responsibility. The risks extend to the societal level. Gans offers a more forgiving point of view.