Denying Problems When We Don’t Like the Solutions (perhaps somewhat off-topic) [View all]

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://today.duke.edu/2014/11/solutionaversion

[font face=Serif][font size=5]Denying Problems When We Don’t Like the Solutions[/font]
[font size=4]Duke study sheds light on why conservatives, liberals disagree so vehemently[/font]

November 6, 2014

Editor's Note: For a copy of this study, contact Troy Campbell at [e-mail].

[font size=3]Durham, NC - There may be a scientific answer for why conservatives and liberals disagree so vehemently over the existence of issues like climate change and specific types of crime.

A new study from Duke University finds that people will evaluate scientific evidence based on whether they view its policy implications as politically desirable. If they don't, then they tend to deny the problem even exists.

“Logically, the proposed solution to a problem, such as an increase in government regulation or an extension of the free market, should not influence one’s belief in the problem. However, we find it does,” said co-author Troy Campbell, a Ph.D. candidate at Duke's Fuqua School of Business. “The cure can be more immediately threatening than the problem.”

The study, "Solution Aversion: On the Relation Between Ideology and Motivated Disbelief," appears in the November issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (viewable at http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/psp/107/5/809/).

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Follow the link to see exactly how this applies to politicized views regarding “climate change.”

Briefly, Republicans are much more liable to believe in “Global Warming” if the suggested solution is free market based. If the solution is more government regulation (for example, a “carbon tax”) then, they don’t believe the problem exists!