Sometimes, I wonder why I bother. I always tell the Intro Psych kids that the most frustrating thing about psychology is when a raft of valid and reliable research tells us to turn left, and we instead turn right with zeal and enthusiasm. And based on that research, I have an idea as to why it happens -- our decision-making processes are a brief dance between relatively rational executive thinking and more emotional impulses from various parts of the forebrain, with the emotions winning out when the executive tosses in the metaphorical towel after trying and failing to untangle the knots of perceived choice and chance. It's what pushes people towards the margins of the mainstream, where Obama is a Kenyan socialist and 9/11 was an inside job and "they" are coming to take our guns and our jobs and our freedom. The persistence of that marginal existence even in the fact of facts is stunning, yet sadly predictable and inexorable.
Every now and again, I attempt to engage people -- on Facebook, in conversation -- with the factual world, and I'm always surprised to find I'm still surprised that I run into these intractable psychological roadblocks. I've failed in so many persuasive attempts that you'd think I'd be used to the swelling feeling of rage, followed by the slow swoop into sorrow, that follows such failures. But I have such an inflated belief in my own alacrity and presence -- made worse by my occupation, no doubt -- that it's still intensely frustrating to expose people to facts and be soundly rejected, often by "arguments" that collapse even as they unfurl.
But are there such things as "facts" anymore? I would like to think so, but maybe that's the failed mathematician in me, hunting for algorithmic order in a world where such structure is hard to find. While there's some research in the field of hypercorrection that suggests our strong confidence can be used to help us reconcile our initial beliefs with more factually correct information, when we get into the grey areas of opinion and ignorance, confidence is the enemy of fact, even for those who should know better. And heaven forbid we enter the death chamber of religious discussions, as those exchanges already have the ending written, with information cherry-picked here and there to bolster an already foregone conclusion. (Good thing the right religion is always the one discussed at the time, even as the specifics of implementation of those religious teachings may be in flux.)
So in short, this post is a lot like everything in my blog -- it's all been said before, by individuals more perspicacious and influential -- but it's a brief snapshot of my frustrations and limitations. And that's a fact.
Every now and again, I attempt to engage people -- on Facebook, in conversation -- with the factual world, and I'm always surprised to find I'm still surprised that I run into these intractable psychological roadblocks. I've failed in so many persuasive attempts that you'd think I'd be used to the swelling feeling of rage, followed by the slow swoop into sorrow, that follows such failures. But I have such an inflated belief in my own alacrity and presence -- made worse by my occupation, no doubt -- that it's still intensely frustrating to expose people to facts and be soundly rejected, often by "arguments" that collapse even as they unfurl.
But are there such things as "facts" anymore? I would like to think so, but maybe that's the failed mathematician in me, hunting for algorithmic order in a world where such structure is hard to find. While there's some research in the field of hypercorrection that suggests our strong confidence can be used to help us reconcile our initial beliefs with more factually correct information, when we get into the grey areas of opinion and ignorance, confidence is the enemy of fact, even for those who should know better. And heaven forbid we enter the death chamber of religious discussions, as those exchanges already have the ending written, with information cherry-picked here and there to bolster an already foregone conclusion. (Good thing the right religion is always the one discussed at the time, even as the specifics of implementation of those religious teachings may be in flux.)
So in short, this post is a lot like everything in my blog -- it's all been said before, by individuals more perspicacious and influential -- but it's a brief snapshot of my frustrations and limitations. And that's a fact.
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