Renowned futurist Arthur Clarke wrote: "People can live longer without food than without information." Fast-living Coco Chanel had a different take: "There is a time for work and a time for love. That leaves no other time." Two different ways of looking at the facts life presents us.
If all 7 billion of us examined facts with our reason, it might be the better world Clarke envisioned. But Coco was probably closer to the fact that expecting people to be convinced by the facts flies in the face of, you know, the facts. Political journalist Chris Mooney calls this the theory of Motivated Reasoning: "Neuroscience shows how our reasoning is actually suffused with our emotions. What researches call 'affect.' Not only are the two inseparable, but our positive and negative emotions about people, things and ideas trigger much more rapidly than our conscious thoughts about them."
When you think about this, we shouldn't be surprised. Evolution demanded we react quickly. Michigan University political scientist Arthur Lupia: "We push threatening information away as we pull friendly information close. We apply fight-or-flight reflexes not only to predators but to data as well."
In his recent THE SOCIAL ANIMAL, columnist David Brooks addresses some of the same themes. Or if you haven't time to read, just watch the cable news channels. Put a half-dozen political pundits in the same studio with the same facts, and you won't get a single consensus on anything. Including the resume of the pundit chattering next to them!
University of Virginia psychologist Jonathan Haidt nails it: "We may think we're being scientists, but we're actually being lawyers. Our reasoning is simply a means to a pre-determined end. Which is winning our case." Hence the theory of Motivated Reasoning. When it comes to issues like global warming, capital punishment, abortion, healthcare, or someone saying my child is a bully, Mooney asserts: "We can and do go to great lengths to rationally explain away facts that may seem obvious to everybody else." Ah yes, I think I remember doing that. And you?
A pause here.
If there really is something to this theory of Motivated Reasoning, really now how crazy is it...? How crazy is it to abruptly discard an emotionally charged belief-system that's taken me a lifetime to build...? I mean, just because you suddenly stick all these facts in my face...?
And so the world goes.
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I'm a cynic at heart so I don't believe or trust much of what is put in front of me. Be it, print or television. My favorite medium, films, is notorious for spin. Especially when it comes to bio pic. As I grow older, I refuse to be spun. As a huge cynic, I am always looking to peek behind the curtain of truth that one isn't supposed to be seen in the first place. Then again, I live in Chicago; where politics and spin are a way of life. Heck, you can't be a politician without those elements. Great thoughts Jack, as always.
ReplyDeleteDanial ~ And as you grow still older, you're likely to grow still more cynical. Life makes it hard not to...!
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