by mrsjones5 5 Replies latest jw friends
Ok, this link to this article came up on my FB newsfeed and I think it's something we all can relate to here. Here's how it came up on my feed:
The Science of Why We Don't Believe Science motherjones.com How our brains fool us on climate, creationism, and the vaccine-autism link.
I'm part way through it and it's a plausible explanation for what I see here with the political topics. It's also making me question my opinions and beliefs (but I do that all the time anyway).
It is an interesting read "an array of new discoveries in psychology and neuroscience has further demonstrated how our preexisting beliefs, far more than any new facts, can skew our thoughts and even color what we consider our most dispassionate and logical conclusions. This tendency toward so-called "motivated reasoning" helps explain why we find groups so polarized over matters where the evidence is so unequivocal: climate change, vaccines, "death panels," the birthplace and religion of the president (PDF), and much else. It would seem that expecting people to be convinced by the facts flies in the face of, you know, the facts."
What I also see here on this forum (everywhere) is confirmation bias where 'birds of a feather will flock together' be it politics, belief in god, conspiracies etc. Of course confirmation Bias is the glue that holds a group together like the JW's. But it's a serious trap because the bias extends to misinformation being accepted as truth. With the internet you can now have your own facts to copy and paste. With a little distortion you can create a 'truth' that someone else can adopt.
But it's a serious trap because the bias extends to misinformation being accepted as truth.
I totally agree. Old habits die hard. Being in an organisation where everything spouted had to be taken as truth has to have an effect on one's mind if critical thinking was never taught.
Someone from the board once told me that they believe some on the board behave as if they've never left the kingdom hall because the restrictive, unthinking, accept something that sounds good whether it's true or not thought patterns are still there. I don't think this person was tryikng to slam anyone but just making an observation of what they saw.
I've read this before, really interesting. It fit's in with many of the themes of Sagan's "Demon Haunted World" which I'm reading currently.
Thank you for posting, I'm going to read it now... I love information like this
