There are now many full-length books that focus on this deep, complex question about human nature/psychology and note newer/ongoing/active research in the area, some of it cited in them.
Why people believe weird things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time Shermer and Gould
But some counterpoint from the reverse, flip side. Science is a complex, evolving, and at times subtle field in a way that was not fully recognized largely until the research in Kuhnian shifts.
When Science Goes Wrong LeVay
Science was Wrong: Startling Truths About Cures, Theories, and Inventions "They" Declared Impossible Friedman & Marden
They Got It Wrong: Science: All the Facts that Turned out to be Science Fiction Donald
Rewriting the textbooks: When science gets it wrong New Scientist
