Evidence be damned

[PassedOut]

The an interesting NYT Findings column discusses the 1909 claims made by both Cook and Peary to have reached the north pole: A Clash of Polar Frauds and Those Who Believe.

 

Despite a complete lack of evidence that either expedition succeeded and quite a bit of evidence that both failed, many people believed one or the other explorer in 1909 - and some still do.

 

The piece refers to studies that document this trait in people, no matter what their political leanings. Here is a recent example:

 

With our rational faculties muted, sometimes the unwelcome evidence doesn’t even register, and sometimes we use marvelous logic to get around the facts.

 

In one study, Republicans who blamed Saddam Hussein for the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, were presented with strong counterevidence, including a statement from President George W. Bush absolving Hussein. But most of the people in the study went on blaming Hussein anyway, as the researchers report in the current issue of Sociological Inquiry.

 

Some of the people ignored or rejected the counterevidence; some “counterargued” that Hussein was evil enough to do it; some flatly said they were entitled to counterfactual opinions. And some came up with an especially creative form of motivated reasoning that the psychologists labeled “inferred justification”: because the United States went to war against Hussein, the reasoning went, it must therefore have been provoked by his attack on Sept. 11.

In this case republicans were the subjects, but people of all political leanings - the true-believer types - share the trait. In my opinion, this is what causes a lot of political discussions to break down. And, I guess, scientific discussions too.

[barmar]

Dan Ariely, in Predictably Irrational, refers to this as "attachment", and it's related to "ownership". We tend to overvalue things we possess, and don't want to give them up (if someone tries to buy something from you, you'll often resist unless they offer more than you would actually pay if you were buying it yourself), and this applies to ideas as well as tangible goods.

 

Another issue is "cognitive dissonance". Once you've committed to a plan of action based on the idea that Iraq has WMD, it's uncomfortable to admit that this was wrong. So we rationalize in order to justify our behavior.

[Winstonm]

I can verify that the antidote to small mindedness is LSD.

 

There's nothing you can do that can't be done.

Nothing you can sing that can't be sung.

Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game.

It's easy.

 

Nothing you can make that can't be made.

No one you can save that can't be saved.

Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time.

It's easy.