Are We Too Dumb for Democracy? The Logic Behind Self-Delusion

[marmar]

via AlterNet:



News Junkie Post / By Stephen Dufrechou

Are We Too Dumb for Democracy? The Logic Behind Self-Delusion
When faced with facts that do not fit seamlessly into our individual belief systems, our minds automatically reject (or backfire) the presented facts.

December 19, 2010 |


A recent cognitive study, as reported by the Boston Globe, concluded that:

Facts don’t necessarily have the power to change our minds. In fact, quite the opposite. In a series of studies in 2005 and 2006, researchers at the University of Michigan found that when misinformed people, particularly political partisans, were exposed to corrected facts in news stories, they rarely changed their minds. In fact, they often became even more strongly set in their beliefs. Facts, they found, were not curing misinformation. Like an underpowered antibiotic, facts could actually make misinformation even stronger.

In light of these findings, researchers concluded that a defense mechanism, which they labeled “backfire”, was preventing individuals from producing pure rational thought. The result is a self-delusion that appears so regularly in normal thinking that we fail to detect it in ourselves, and often in others: When faced with facts that do not fit seamlessly into our individual belief systems, our minds automatically reject (or backfire) the presented facts. The result of backfire is that we become even more entrenched in our beliefs, even if those beliefs are totally or partially false.

“The general idea is that it’s absolutely threatening to admit you’re wrong,” said Brendan Nyhan, the lead researcher of the Michigan study. The occurrence of backfire, he noted, is “a natural defense mechanism to avoid that cognitive dissonance.”

The conclusion made here is this: facts often do not determine our beliefs, but rather our beliefs (usually non-rational beliefs) determine the facts that we accept. As the Boston Globe article notes:

In reality, we often base our opinions on our beliefs, which can have an uneasy relationship with facts. And rather than facts driving beliefs, our beliefs can dictate the facts we chose to accept. They can cause us to twist facts so they fit better with our preconceived notions. Worst of all, they can lead us to uncritically accept bad information just because it reinforces our beliefs. This reinforcement makes us more confident we’re right, and even less likely to listen to any new information. And then we vote.

Despite this finding, Nyhan claims that the underlying cause of backfire is unclear. “It’s very much up in the air,” he says. And on how our society is going to counter this phenomena, Nyhan is even less certain. ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/health/149262/are_we_too_dumb_for_democracy_the_logic_behind_self-delusion/

[Demeter]

1. Because our political system has been thoroughly corrupted

by election fraud, corporate money sloshing through the corridors of regulation, power and policy, and the corrupt judiciary and executive branches, many people haven't got any facts to work with. All they have are lies.

To rebuild this political system, we must make systemic changes.

The only way I can see this happening is through grassroots efforts. There are two ways that can proceed:

Peacefully, as in Howard Dean's network to rebuild, which model Obama used so effectively to get into office, and then totally destroyed once office had been obtained...

Or violently, through massive civil disobedience, and even revolution.

Instead of trying to do it nationwide, we had best start in our own communities, build up to reform or our home states, and then clean up the national legislature.

At each level, the courts and law enforcement agencies must also be scoured of corruption, graft, and so forth.

And watchdogs must ensure that the place stays cleaned up.

Governance is hard work. And nobody's been doing it for 30 years or more...

We have to get the Corporation out of Government, if we want change for the betterment of all people.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. "We don't see things as they are; we see them as we are." - Anais Nin

Everybody sees the world through their own prism. Nobody "owns" objective truth because nobody can evaluate information except through that prism. That goes for all of us.

[stray cat]

3. Yes- that is why we were not founded as a complete democracy

[GeorgeGist]

4. I think the evidence is clear ...

unless you're dumb enough to know better.

[dorkulon]

5. This is blowback from our crappy education system.

Yes, people will rejects facts that don't conform to their beliefs--unless they've been taught to engage in intellectually honest critical thinking.

[ladjf]

6. The human race might be too dumb to survive. 40% of americans

believe that God created humans about 10,000 yrs ago in the present form.

Notice who that favored in the 2010 elections, candidates of the very Party that had been busy stealing from them as fast as possible.