Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to connect the concepts of false beliefs and the illusion of explanatory depth while simultaneously signaling an alarm about the level and negative consequences of false beliefs. Illusion of explanatory depth is a false belief about our own explanatory knowledge and has been demonstrated in many mechanical domains, a few natural domains, and a couple of social-cognitive domains. In this paper an argument will be made that holding false beliefs is a common phenomenon and that, while some false beliefs provide benefits, many false beliefs are problematic. False beliefs and the illusion of explanatory depth interact reinforcing each other. There are some things we can do to try to correct our own false beliefs and illusions of explanatory depth. Several managerial implications are provided.