If An Expert Said it, It Must Be True

Later in the chapter Robert goes on to give an example of another "fixed action pattern". This one goes by the name "If an expert said it, it must be true". However we happen to have a safety net with this fixed action pattern. An experiment was taken with college kids to see how they would react to being told that there would be a final exam that must be passed for them to be given their diploma and another one to see how they would react if the kids 10 years from now would need to pass a final exam in order to get their diploma. This experiment showed that when the kids knew the exam didn't apply to them they stayed with the "if an expert said it, it must be true" fixed action pattern. However, when the students knew that it would apply to them they looked into the facts more.