Scientists Say They've Found The Driver of False Beliefs, And It's Not a Lack of Intelligence

[phands]

Interesting indeed...explains a lot about the racist and the gawd-masturbator hereabouts....

Why is it sometimes so hard to convince someone that the world is indeed a globe, or that climate change is actually caused by human activity, despite the overwhelming evidence?


Scientists think they might have the answer, and it's less to do with lack of understanding, and more to do with the feedback they're getting.


Getting positive or negative reactions to something you do or say is a greater influence on your thinking than logic and reasoning, the new research suggests – so if you're in a group of like-minded people, that's going to reinforce your thinking.


Receiving good feedback also encourages us to think we know more than we actually do.


In other words, the more sure we become that our current position is right, the less likely we are to take into account other opinions or even cold, hard scientific data.

Sheer bloody-minded stubborn intransigence. Sums up religion and racism.

https://www.sciencealert.com/feedback-study-explains-why-false-beliefs-stick

 

[Speakpigeon]

Nothing new here. Even scientists do it.
EB

 

[whollygoats]

And, it is enacted here in a multiplicity of ways each and every day.

'Freethinkers'....pfffft.

As if.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

Interesting indeed...explains a lot about the racist and the gawd-masturbator hereabouts....

Why is it sometimes so hard to convince someone that the world is indeed a globe, or that climate change is actually caused by human activity, despite the overwhelming evidence?


Scientists think they might have the answer, and it's less to do with lack of understanding, and more to do with the feedback they're getting.


Getting positive or negative reactions to something you do or say is a greater influence on your thinking than logic and reasoning, the new research suggests – so if you're in a group of like-minded people, that's going to reinforce your thinking.


Receiving good feedback also encourages us to think we know more than we actually do.


In other words, the more sure we become that our current position is right, the less likely we are to take into account other opinions or even cold, hard scientific data.

Sheer bloody-minded stubborn intransigence. Sums up religion and racism.

https://www.sciencealert.com/feedback-study-explains-why-false-beliefs-stick

In other words, it's an emotional decision, as most decisions are.

 

[repoman]

Interesting indeed...explains a lot about the racist and the gawd-masturbator hereabouts....

Why is it sometimes so hard to convince someone that the world is indeed a globe, or that climate change is actually caused by human activity, despite the overwhelming evidence?


Scientists think they might have the answer, and it's less to do with lack of understanding, and more to do with the feedback they're getting.


Getting positive or negative reactions to something you do or say is a greater influence on your thinking than logic and reasoning, the new research suggests – so if you're in a group of like-minded people, that's going to reinforce your thinking.


Receiving good feedback also encourages us to think we know more than we actually do.


In other words, the more sure we become that our current position is right socially rewarding and financially lucrative, the less likely we are to take into account other opinions or even cold, hard scientific data.

Sheer bloody-minded stubborn intransigence. Sums up religion and racism.

https://www.sciencealert.com/feedback-study-explains-why-false-beliefs-stick

In other words, it's an emotional decision, as most decisions are.

This is the the "Dave Rubin Effect", guy with no core beliefs but just making bucket loads of cash.

It is both emotional and rational to not rock the boat. Actually it takes a larger emotional drive to rock the boat.
Not many people are whistle blowers.

Imagine that you are a hunter gatherer or an early farmer and there is a social situation where a higher socially ranking person did something shitty to a lower ranking one. A mid ranking person saw this incident, will he tell it like happened and risk status loss, or mind his own business or tell the truth?

Well, we are the descendants of the people who had to make those choices. What happened to the people who were bootlickers vs "mind their own business" people vs whistleblowers? How many kids did they have?

Are we self-bred to be bootlickers in general?

 

[Worldtraveller]

Throw in a little Dunning-Kruger, and you've got most of the GOP and its base.

 

[scombrid]

In other words, it's an emotional decision, as most decisions are.

This is the the "Dave Rubin Effect", guy with no core beliefs but just making bucket loads of cash.

It is both emotional and rational to not rock the boat. Actually it takes a larger emotional drive to rock the boat.
Not many people are whistle blowers.

Imagine that you are a hunter gatherer or an early farmer and there is a social situation where a higher socially ranking person did something shitty to a lower ranking one. A mid ranking person saw this incident, will he tell it like happened and risk status loss, or mind his own business or tell the truth?

Well, we are the descendants of the people who had to make those choices. What happened to the people who were bootlickers vs "mind their own business" people vs whistleblowers? How many kids did they have?

Are we self-bred to be bootlickers in general?

And a lot of people that see themselves as "woke" whistleblowers for crazy conspiracy theories are often outcasts from mainstream but when they become "awake" they are suddenly part of a very affirmational group; which is probably why they act like new converts to fundamentalist religion. They convince themselves that they are privy to "facts" that set them apart from the masses when their thinking is really shaped by their emotional need for inclusion in a group.

 

[JohnG]

In other words, it's an emotional decision, as most decisions are.

This is the the "Dave Rubin Effect", guy with no core beliefs but just making bucket loads of cash.

It is both emotional and rational to not rock the boat. Actually it takes a larger emotional drive to rock the boat.
Not many people are whistle blowers.

Imagine that you are a hunter gatherer or an early farmer and there is a social situation where a higher socially ranking person did something shitty to a lower ranking one. A mid ranking person saw this incident, will he tell it like happened and risk status loss, or mind his own business or tell the truth?

Well, we are the descendants of the people who had to make those choices. What happened to the people who were bootlickers vs "mind their own business" people vs whistleblowers? How many kids did they have?

Are we self-bred to be bootlickers in general?

I use the same strategy when trying to make sense of behavior. Many behaviors make no sense in a modern society, but when you consider them in the light of tribal times, and how much longer we spent developing during paleo times, add in the direct impact of those behaviors (Darwin awards given out with more gusto) things make a whole lot more sense.

 

[phands]

Throw in a little Dunning-Kruger, and you've got most of the GOP and its base.

And religion in general.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

In other words, it's an emotional decision, as most decisions are.

This is the the "Dave Rubin Effect", guy with no core beliefs but just making bucket loads of cash.

It is both emotional and rational to not rock the boat. Actually it takes a larger emotional drive to rock the boat.
Not many people are whistle blowers.

Imagine that you are a hunter gatherer or an early farmer and there is a social situation where a higher socially ranking person did something shitty to a lower ranking one. A mid ranking person saw this incident, will he tell it like happened and risk status loss, or mind his own business or tell the truth?

Well, we are the descendants of the people who had to make those choices. What happened to the people who were bootlickers vs "mind their own business" people vs whistleblowers? How many kids did they have?

Are we self-bred to be bootlickers in general?

I use the same strategy when trying to make sense of behavior. Many behaviors make no sense in a modern society, but when you consider them in the light of tribal times, and how much longer we spent developing during paleo times, add in the direct impact of those behaviors (Darwin awards given out with more gusto) things make a whole lot more sense.

I do the same thing. It's a fascinating observation of the human condition that most people do not make.

Understanding human behavior in terms of evolutionary selection explains every aspect of ourselves. It easily explains why people will say, "Jesus gave us our bodies" in a discussion about evolution. And new behaviors are constantly being offered up to take their turn in the environment. Cognitive inequality is real. That much is certain.