In
human behavior,
denialism is exhibited by individuals choosing to
deny reality as a way to avoid dealing with an uncomfortable
truth.
[1] Author Paul O'Shea remarks, "[It] is the refusal to accept an
empirically verifiable reality. It is an essentially
irrational action that withholds validation of a historical experience or event".
[2] Author
Michael Specter defined group denialism as "when an entire segment of society, often struggling with the trauma of change, turns away from reality in favor of a more comfortable lie."
[3]
In science, denialism has been defined as the rejection of basic concepts that are undisputed and well-supported parts of the
scientific consensus on a topic in favor of ideas that are both radical and controversial.
[4] It has been proposed that the various forms of denialism have the common feature of the rejection of overwhelming evidence and the generation of a controversy through attempts to deny that a consensus exists.