JOLLY DAYS

Born to Bias

This WaPo article affirms a truth you always suspected, but now, sadly, there are studies to confirm. We are born to believe in myths. Bias is folded into thinking and once infected it is hard to cure the patient. The task of sorting out the truth from the falsehood, the reality from the fabrication, seems all the more daunting for a world filled with media chatter, manipulators and the misinformed, all potentially viral on the net.

Contrary to the conventional notion that people absorb information in a deliberate manner, the studies show that the brain uses subconscious "rules of thumb" that can bias it into thinking that false information is true. Clever manipulators can take advantage of this tendency.

... Long-term memories matter most in public health campaigns or political ones, and they are the most susceptible to the bias of thinking that well-recalled false information is true...

The research also highlights the disturbing reality that once an idea has been implanted in people's minds, it can be difficult to dislodge. Denials inherently require repeating the bad information, which may be one reason they can paradoxically reinforce it.

Only indirectly related, but this reminds me of a cartoon where a man was giving his dog a command while the dog sat looking at him. The caption showing what the dog heard: gibberish punctuated by the dog's name. The only thing the dog heard: his own name. You hear what you are listening for...