It's no secret to anyone that sometimes the least well-informed people are the hardest to convince of the truth. What's more, even though most of us can personally identify a situation in which we were forced to interact with one of these people, we can rarely (or are unwilling to) identify a time in which we were on the other side of the argument, simply because we tend not to think of ourselves as lacking information or being misinformed. Up until this chapter of unSpun, however, it had never occurred to me that there might be some sort of neurological explanation for why we tend to make the mistakes and hold the opinions we do, and this revelation is both uplifting and depressing. On one hand, I can partially blame the mistakes I make in thinking on something that is initially beyond my control - the natural reactions of the brain. On the other hand, however, there are now two things I must overcome when processing new information: my own natural laziness, AND the product of thousands of years of evolutionary brain biology.
What I found most interesting in chapter four was the section entitled 'This Is Your Brain on Politics.' Studies have showed that not only are our brain willing and ready to accept propaganda that supports our views without questioning, but that rather than reasonably considering this information, we feel emotionally rewarded when we reformulate such (often incorrect) information to meet our needs. I am intensely curious as to how this function of the brain developed and evolved within our species, because I can see no reason why it would help us to survive, especially if it keeps us from processing information we may need to survive. Did it develop in early humans when rival tribes fought in order to keep ourselves from being easily tricked? Was it some form of a defense mechanism? In any case, it is a dangerous shortcut key that our computer minds should be sure to avoid, because though it may be naturally present in us, it is like a cancer that, should it be allowed to take control, could very well lead to terrible outcomes.
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I absolutely love your witty remarks about this chapter and the book as a whole! I,too, found the biological aspects of our choices so interesting. I hate to think that I don't have much control over my brain because I am such a control freak. I found the emotional aspects of persuasion really cool too. The book mentions that even the "smartest" people (aka us nerds in WRH) can be fooled by our biology and emotions. I don't know about you, but that makes me feel a little better. Great comments though!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. Now we have to battle biology to see the loopholes in our thoughts! And I was also someone who thought that I had my opinions under control and was open to ideas and facts. Now science is telling me otherwise, and I rarely doubt scientific facts. Which may or may not be a good thing...
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