Forum Post: Humans have the unique ability to disregard truth if the truth is disturbing
Posted 12 years ago on Dec. 2, 2011, 7:50 a.m. EST by joe100
(306)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Are we all like this? Just some of us?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111121142446.htm
"ScienceDaily: Your source for the latest research news and science breakthroughs -- updated daily Click Here! Science News Blog Cite Save Email Print Share Ignorance Is Bliss When It Comes to Challenging Social Issues
ScienceDaily (Nov. 21, 2011) — The less people know about important complex issues such as the economy, energy consumption and the environment, the more they want to avoid becoming well-informed, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association."
http://occupywallst.org/forum/interesting-read-about-the-constitution-and-corpor/#comment-404410
AWESOME POST - I actually read ScienceDaily almost EVERY DAY! And I don't visit many sites every day, many just 3 or 4. But that's one of them! EXCELLENT!
Makes me feel better - because I have extremely urgent issues, and I got the same reaction. ITS NOt ME!!! Thats good! It's the way a lot of people are. Of Course, not all the people are like that, but most.
"And the more urgent the issue, the more people want to remain unaware, according to a paper published online in APA's Journal of Personality and Social Psychology."
"In one study, participants who felt most affected by the economic recession avoided information challenging the government's ability to manage the economy."
We should put up another post based on that artilce - even though its the same subject a post would allow more people to see it. I will do it later - I am posting something else - so I have to wait two hours.
Yes, and it is called 'denial'. The reason why we disregard/deny truth may differ and the extent to which we deny differ between individuals. (related: you may find the truth that a person near and dear to you has died VERY hard to accept and therefor disregard it)
Some truths are also being disregarded in order to uphold certain values and political interests, for example. As an umbrella term for that praxis 'right-wing politics' can be used. ^-^
Denial seems appropriate - There are some of us who see truth and report it. Others constantly deny... thanks for the post!
what is the truth?
in 1950 the japanese film rashomon attempted to shed some light on how people perceive reality.
we are no closer to seeing the truth than before.
GIve me a concrete example - and I explain the truth to the situation. Asking "what is the truth?" and not having something to discuss, has no meaning. The truth is, 2 + 1 = 3. That's the truth. You can philosophize all you want, but 2 + 1 = 3, always.
I've noticed this as well. If the crime is too big, the victims too many, people decide to believe no crime has been committed at all. Sadly they then turn on the victim and act as if the victim betrayed them by lying to them! How dare someone make them have a CARE! I find it sick, and yet fascinating. Its like watching a train wreck when you see it action. Its so common place these days. Its like the wiring in people brains is short circuiting, there is some kind massive hole in the person's brain and you just know this should be abnormal and have a name like "delusional" however it happens in normal people generally capable of reason and who have no psychotic symptoms. Group mentality has a name and it affects normal people. There needs to be a name for this phenomenon. If it has a name already, could someone please tell me what it is??? I'd like to google it and read studies about it.
The seven crimes of society are
I don’t think.
I don’t know.
I don’t care.
I am too busy.
I leave well enough alone.
I have no time to read and find out.
I am not interested.
"I don't care", from you? See: http://occupywallst.org/forum/why-libertarianism-is-so-wonderful/#comment-448789
If you don't care about your country then why are you in it? Also I don't give a damn about the ideas not the country.
I was pointing out your apparent hypocrisy.
Yes you are entirely correct. Just because I don't care about someone's ideas I don't care about my country.
This phenomenon is call "cognitive dissonance"
A discomfort caused by holding conflicting ideas simultaneously. The theory of cognitive dissonance proposes that people have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance. They do this by changing their attitudes, beliefs, and actions.[1] Dissonance is also reduced by justifying, blaming, and denying. The phrase was coined by Leon Festinger in his 1956 book When Prophecy Fails, which chronicled the followers of a UFO cult as reality clashed with their fervent beliefs.[2][3] It is one of the most influential and extensively studied theories in social psychology. A closely related term, cognitive disequilibrium, was coined by Jean Piaget to refer to the experience of a discrepancy between something new and something already known or believed. Wikipedia
The question is do smaller anterior cingulates lead to higher instances of "cognitive dissonance"? Another question, does the republican party depend, count on, and exploit common brain abnormalities to get support? Does it count on their own susceptibility to "cognitive dissonance" to effectively hide its misdeeds. (Sorta like roofying a girl to commit a rape? But more like taking a mute retard to a secluded location....) Some of the 99% are republicans, like it or not, we wouldn't stand by idly while someone was trying to take advantage of the special ed people!!! Post this on a psychology and psychiatry forum, we need studies!!!!
Thank You! I knew there had to be a word and study for this!!!! I remember this from psychology now. Examples of it are rampant on the web. We also need catchier slang terms for cognitive dissonance so that we my point this problem when it occurs (so that even highschoolers know the name of it and can call people on it) No body says Schizophrenic, just schizo.
Did you see this?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111121142446.htm
ScienceDaily (Nov. 21, 2011) — The less people know about important complex issues such as the economy, energy consumption and the environment, the more they want to avoid becoming well-informed, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association."
Thanks! I'll keep some of those points in mind. I have noticed myself blow off posts that would require me to go read a book to form an opinion. What I believe in isn't really complicated or wordy. I consider myself a pretty simple minded person that likes little words the spell checker can help me with. One of my ideas is that no matter how much you educate, the vast majority can't be turned into rocket scientists.
True true.... That's why I like leadership. I am not into this no leadership thing. Should have a council
Yes, of people who have read those books and maybe have rocket scientist potential!
Thanks for your post - well said - about the crime being too big. I get this reaction all the time.... There should be a name for it. I actually heard that statement on an old political documentary film from a few decades ago.
I like Science Daily too and the comment above is very true.
Not all humans... Just "conservatives":
http://occupywallst.org/forum/what-is-conservatism-and-what-is-wrong-with-it/
All like this. It's called cognitive dissonence or circular reasoning. Humans are conscious of reason behind their own actions 15% of existence. Peace.
Iain McGilchrist: The divided brain: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/iain_mcgilchrist_the_divided_brain.html enjoy :)
Thanks - very cool video about the divided brain. There is a lot of relevance of that video to this idea of humans having the ability to disregard truth.
the worse person to lie to is yourself. Take off your rose colored glasses and crush them under your heel, then take a good close look. Then consider what is wrong and make a pan to fix it. Never ignore the truth.
True true. The most important promise is the ones you make to yourself. Try to never break your own promises to yourself.
and don't make any promises that you will not keep
i disregard the minority's truth. call me simple, i say it is a survival technique
Oh, common! I had such high hopes that you would share some pertinent insight into that general behavior that results in so many refusing to look at what is so so so wrong . . .
with say . . .
mainstream repelicanism . . .
I don't think we'll be coming up with any pithy little sayings on the insight you've shared so far - but perhaps the conversation that develops will provoke something . . .
The term is "cognitive dissonance" the question is do smaller anterior cingulates lead to higher instances of "cognitive dissonance"? Another question, does the republican party depend, count on, and exploit common brain abnormalities to get support? Does it count on their own susceptibility to "cognitive dissonance" to effectively hide its misdeeds. (Sorta like roofying a girl to commit a rape? But more like taking a mute retard to a secluded location....) Some of the 99% are republicans, like it or not, we wouldn't stand by idly while someone was trying to take advantage of the special ed people!!! Post this on a psychology and psychiatry forum, we need studies!!!!
LoL!
That is funny.
I hate the term cognitive dissonance - it's a gem coined by someone named Festinger
What a name! It just sounds malignant, puss infested, putrid.
He co-authored a study that produced a book called: When Prophecy Fails [1961]
I will restrain myself from expounding on all that I would most certainly do with a fool like him . . .
So I've been trying to come up with an alternative - one that suggests a more holistic approach and philosophy -
something like harmonic dissonance or harmonic imbalance
harmonic instability . . . .
something like that.
I think we need one slang term for the denial and one slang term for the blame and attack victim part. And needs to be as derogatory as troll!!!!!!
Thanks for the new vocab words - "cingulate" - that's new for me. Cognitive Dissonance - a good term for it. Do you prefer "denial" or "Cognitive Dissonance" ?
denial doesn't cover the blame and attack the victim part.
Excellent point - you would be an awesome editor!
Yep, I want this studied and whether or not republicans are more susceptible to it. Studies have shown they have and enlarged fear center but perhaps this phenomenon is related to the smaller anterior cingulate — the part of the brain responsible for courage and optimism in republican brains. It may be specific to people with smaller than average anterior cingulates. It makes perfect sense that that the lack of courage and optimism would leave conservative republicans in utter despair if they accepted the truth because the lack of courage would make them feel powerless to ever right the wrongs to the victims.
I remember that drumbeat of fear that emanated constantly from the repelican camp the entire time of Bushite - so I have no doubt they are more receptive to it than average. If they did not perceive it as a useful tool they would not use it so consistently.
Whether it's a product of nurture or nature I can't say . . . perhaps they simply weren't held enough as a child, and therefore they developed strange shaped brains to accommodate their many and varied strange ideas and their over sized fears . . .
Hey, I didn't sleep all night - I am tired... I was thinking just what you said, that the conversation might develop and provoke something interesting
LoL!
There is no doubt - when facts confront a persons convictions, sometimes the facts lose.
The more tightly held the conviction, the greater the suffering required for truth to break through and be heard.
For many, truth is relative.
No. there is truth. For those that think truth is relative, they are the believers in lies. True, there are different points of view, but only one overall truth to anything.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z9WVZddH9w
I've noticed an even more disturbing truth, there are a lot of people who post copious inane posts that say nothing about the social and economic issues being confronted by OWS.
A waste of bandwidth.
Studying this will help us connect with people suffering from common brain abnormalities and perhaps help them face their fears and see hard truths. We must learn to give them the hope for justice and change they need in order to face up to the truth. The republican party wants to exploit their brain defects and take advantage of them and that just not right.
I am an Independent. To me your partisanship is a significant part of the social disease infecting the American democratic body politic.
I hate all political parties. They are mob rule working to overwhelm with numbers America's one American one vote democracy.
Good maybe your brain is normal! You can make better decisions than some other people. I am assuming that since liberal and conservative brains are abnormal, most people have normal brains and should fall into the Independent category and are lured to one side or the other by other means or a lack of CHOICES! I don't favor the two party system and yet it out in full force. Democrats and Republicans have dominated politics and minds of the people and we need to move than and pandering and do something about things most people can and do agree on!