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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Most Depressing Discovery About the Brain, Ever - Say goodnight to the dream that education,
journalism, scientific evidence, or reason can provide the tools that people need in order to make good decisions.++++++++
Yale law school professor Dan Kahans new research paper is called Motivated Numeracy and Enlightened Self-Government, but for me a better title is the headline on science writer Chris Mooneys piece about it in Grist: Science Confirms: Politics Wrecks Your Ability to Do Math.
Kahan conducted some ingenious experiments about the impact of political passion on peoples ability to think clearly. His conclusion, in Mooneys words: partisanship can even undermine our very basic reasoning skills
. [People] who are otherwise very good at math may totally flunk a problem that they would otherwise probably be able to solve, simply because giving the right answer goes against their political beliefs.
In other words, say goodnight to the dream that education, journalism, scientific evidence, media literacy or reason can provide the tools and information that people need in order to make good decisions. It turns out that in the public realm, a lack of information isnt the real problem. The hurdle is how our minds work, no matter how smart we think we are. We want to believe were rational, but reason turns out to be the ex post facto way we rationalize what our emotions already want to believe.
For years my go-to source for downer studies of how our hard-wiring makes democracy hopeless has been Brendan Nyhan, an assistant professor of government at Dartmouth.
http://admin.alternet.org/media/most-depressing-discovery-about-brain-ever?akid=10941.260941.Vfiyri&rd=1&src=newsletter897375&t=4
RC
(25,592 posts)ananda
(28,868 posts)Age affected my ability to do geometry.
Marr
(20,317 posts)'We are usually acting as lawyers, even when we think we're being logicians'. And it's true-- on several occasions since, I've caught myself dismissing evidence for things I did not want to acknowledge, and giving undue credit to claims that back up my own views. It's very interesting, and a bit sad.
However, I think it's possible to overcome a bias by using another bias as a wedge. For instance, I've had many conservatives agree with me on economic issues if I frame them as fights between hardworking, manly men in flannel and effete, entitled Harvard boys.
hfojvt
(37,573 posts)I can accept that a person will argue strongly for the things they believe in, that it takes a little bit of work to change a mind.
The sad thing is the minds that are slammed shut and cemented into the position that "there are two kinds of people in the world
1. those who agree with me
2. those who are morons and/or a$$holes"
hfojvt
(37,573 posts)If you give most people a problem like, say,
add the numbers 1,2,3,4,5 ....75, 76 that many people will not get the right answer. Not because they cannot add. Nor, because politics takes away their ability to add. No, what is their motivation to do all that work and arrive at the correct answer?
If I am taking a test for some experiment, what do I care if I get the answer right or get the answer wrong? The point is - to get to the correct answer requires work, requires effort. Politics, I believe, takes away the motivation to do that work.
Another part may just be stubbornness. Taking an online quiz about worldviews at some conservative site, I came to a question that asked - true or false, George W. Bush is President of the United States. I answered false just to be spitefiul. Just because I hated to admit the truth. Same thing in 2005 when I was in the hospital and they asked me "Who is President of the United States?" when I came out of surgery. I knew what the correct answer was, but I was NOT gonna say it. Instead, I said "I think it is Al Gore."
So taking some little test for a study, a person might think, "yeah, your little made up example says that gun control does not work, but I refuse to even do the work, and refuse to say it."
Try the experiment again to test my theory. PAY people $10 for correct answers and see if that MOTIVATION will prove that they CAN do the math in spite of their politics. My bet is that the percentage of correct answers goes up all across the board.
hunter
(38,321 posts)I'm not much motivated by money which is probably why I'll die living on the streets under a cardboard box.
I'd much rather find or make something than buy something. I'm a hunter-gatherer by nature. Hunter is both my name and inclination.
But I do enjoy math problems and I've gathered a few tricks. Enjoying this kind of math is my motivation.
I remember figuring this one out for myself as a kid and I was disappointed to learn that Gauss had figured it out a long time ago.
telclaven
(235 posts)I was going to do the same thing.
BridgeTheGap
(3,615 posts)the same as this study, it still seems related:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_True_Believer
PowerToThePeople
(9,610 posts)We are taught to respect power, strength, and wealth from a very early age. It is brainwashing.
BridgeTheGap
(3,615 posts)lumberjack_jeff
(33,224 posts)You see it on the right all the time. Social Security is bankrupting us! We can't afford foreign aid! Obamacare argle-bargle-yarp!
You see it on the left occasionally too. All forms of violent crime are drastically reduced, in fact it is actually down roughly 75% in the last 20 years, but this doesn't seem to be a factor in discussions around violence related topics.
It has something to do with deference to authority or "Who are you going to believe? Me or your lying eyes?"
GreenStormCloud
(12,072 posts)I used to be a creationist about 35 years ago. Eventually I learned the Evolution answered questions, even as it posed new ones, and is much more interesting.
groovedaddy
(6,229 posts)early on could also help.