Apparently, beliefs are like clothes. In a harsh environment, we choose our clothes mainly to be functional, i.e., to keep us safe and comfortable. But when the weather is mild, we choose our clothes mainly for their appearance, i.e., to show our figure, our creativity, and our allegiances. Similarly, when the stakes are high we may mainly want accurate beliefs to help us make good decisions. But when a belief has few direct personal consequences, we in effect mainly care about the image it helps us to project.

Robin Hanson, Enhancing out truth orientation, in Julian Savulescu and Nick Bostrom (eds.) Human Enhancement, Oxford, 2009, pp. 357–72, p. 358