When We Don't Like the Solution, We Deny the Problem

A  new study from Duke University explores the notion that people faced with a problem will deny its existence if they don't like the solution. The researchers conducted three experiments on three different issues -- climate change, air pollution that harms lungs, and crime.

“The goal was to test, in a scientifically controlled manner, the question: Does the desirability of a solution affect beliefs in the existence of the associated problem? In other words, does what we call 'solution aversion' exist?" said Troy Campbell, a Ph.D. candidate at Duke's Fuqua School of Business.

Conservatives and liberals are equally as guilty in this case, the study claims.

“The cure can be more immediately threatening than the problem," said Campbell and added that solution aversion can help explain why political divides become so divisive and intractable.