Bad news for DUers----- Partisanship undermines basic reasoning skills

[Vanje]

Excerpts:
Kahan conducted some ingenious experiments about the impact of political passion on people’s ability to think clearly. His conclusion, in Mooney’s 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.”




"Nyan and his collaborators have been running experiments trying to answer this terrifying question about American voters: Do facts matter?
The answer, basically, is no. When people are misinformed, giving them facts to correct those errors only makes them cling to their beliefs more tenaciously."



Read about it here:
http://www.salon.com/2013/09/17/the_most_depressing_discovery_about_the_brain_ever_partner/

[NYC_SKP]

1. This sounds accurate. Defensive people cling to their myths more tightly.

Passion and emotion cloud judgement.

And, all too often, complex problems require complex solutions.

Passion and emotion can trigger excellent responses to immediate simple threats, but complex threats are best solved by calm, open-minded patient people.

Good article, and timely.

K/R

[Vanje]

5. I know

It goes a ways to explain the ol double-down, doesnt it.

That people with higher math skills were affected more, is surprising.

[defacto7]

7. And your's is a great response! n/t

[jaysunb]

2. Sounds like

"they cling to their guns and religion." .... Candidate Barack Obama 2008

[BlueJazz]

3. Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe this feature (and more) of the brain has...

....been known for a long time. 5 years ?

[joshcryer]

4. Wouldn't that mean that a reasonable partisan would be unstoppable?

[99th_Monkey]

6. This explains a lot. really.

The epic levels of stupidity that are becoming so commonplace in DC, just for starters.

But it's not that simple either. Politicians-on-the-lobbyist-dole can't just blame it all on
"partisanship" because one study says so, and walk away from any moral, ethical and
legal responsibilities to their country and the common welfare.

[petronius]

8. Goes to show, the only thing brains are good for is zombie food

It's pretty amazing, really, the degree to which the things we know, the way we think, the things we see, and the things we remember are not nearly as objectively real as we like to hope...

[Vanje]

9. We're apparently a 'Faith-Based' bunch...

...even us mostly seculars.

[jberryhill]

10. I see this happen to lawyers frequently

And once their logic flies out the window, a critique of their argument itself becomes an effective counter argument. I had to respond to a brief a few weeks ago where the guy contradicted himself three times in one paragraph, and didn't even notice. To which I basically replied that the defense would just as soon sit this one out until he's done arguing with himself, but for the fact that he was doing a poor job of both sides of it.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

11. What I always found hilarious was when something happened over the weekend,...

....and the Dittoheads were lost until they heard Rush talk about it on Monday's show.

Then his spin made perfect sense and was the absolute truth.

I have actually heard a FOX "News" fan claim the truth and facts are two different things. So while the facts may be on my side, he had the truth on his.

The Right Wing is a Cult.

[Cha]

13. limbaugh is now against "drinking water" because Michelle Obama

is promoting it. Will they all dry up an blow away?

[Spitfire of ATJ]

15. Naw,...they weren't drinking it before....

[Cha]

17. Oh yes, my little chickadee, W.C. Fields..

I use to laugh so hard at him while watching old movies with pitchers of and pizza

[Spitfire of ATJ]

19. There hasn't been a really good comic drunk since Foster Brooks.

[Vanje]

21. They'll be drinking Fracking fluid.

Last edited Wed Sep 18, 2013, 12:19 PM - Edit history (2)

Governor Hickenlooper of Colorado, drank fracking fluid as a public stunt to show how good-for-you fracking is.

(.....on edit: Nevermind . Governor Hickenlooper is a "Democrat" I HATE it when that happens. I really do. I was really looking forward to watching Republicans order Halliburton on the rocks at their local watering holes)

http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/the-governor-of-colorado-drank-halliburtons-fracking-fluid-for-some-reason

[ErikJ]

12. Believing Jesus rode dinosaurs tells you where they are coming from.

[cali]

14. for SOME Duers. I"ve been saying that for ages.

[Le Taz Hot]

18. Bad news for Blind Partisan Duers.

There's a whole lot of us who are non-partisan.

[Zorra]

20. Any rational person who has ever tried to have a

reasonable conversation with a right winger is well aware of this already. People who believe the earth is only 6,000 yrs old and who want to persecute me because I am LGBT are obviously deluded and deranged from my POV.

Rather than try to change their minds I protect myself from their irrationality as best I can in every way, socially, politically, economically, legally, and professionally.

I don't care what people want to believe, as long as they don't go about fucking my life up with their delusions...