In the 2012 article, The Science of Why We Don’t Believe In Science, author Chris Mooney discusses how people choose to believe in certain ideas regardless of the information provided to them. Mooney quotes psychologist Leon Festinger in page 1 of his article saying, “A man with a conviction is a hard man to change. Tell him you disagree and he turns away. Show him facts or figures and he questions your sources. Appeal to logic and he fails to see your point.” Mooney agrees with the ideas in this quote and makes a point regarding how when people passionately believe something, they will respond negatively to anything that says otherwise. This in turn makes people want to believe in their cause even more, especially when they find evidence and arguments that agree with them. This relates directly to the concept of confirmation bias and disconfirmation bias. Mooney states that people who have strong convictions regarding certain subjects have a natural tendency to support arguments and evidence that support what they so strongly believe in, and find flaws in ideas that oppose their beliefs. Mooney emphasizes that people, particularly Conservatives, act this way regarding significant and controversial topics such as climate change, vaccinations, and the death penalty. Things such as religion, views on morality, and business very powerfully steer people into thinking a certain way. People reject what could undermine what they so strongly believe to be true. People are consumers of information, and since technology plays such a large role in how we acquire it, it is very simple to find information you agree with, or to misinterpret information. Mooney comes to the conclusion that people should start presenting knowledge in friendlier, less argumentative ways, so people do not become defensive. Instead of trying to convince people with facts, everyone should start presenting information with a focus on values.
Mooney explains that all reasoning is connected deeply with emotion, which is called, affect. Our conscious thoughts arise much more slowly than our feelings about certain people or ideas. This is related to our natural fight-or-flight response which makes us push information that alarm us away, while pulling the information we respond favorably to, closer. This connects directly to Confirmation and Disconformation bias. Confirmation Bias says we tend pay more attention to evidence or arguments that support our convictions, while we also spend a great deal of time trying to disprove opposing ideas that we disagree with, which is Disconfirmation Bias. These things have a huge effect on how we perceive important, yet controversial, topics such as vaccinations or climate change. Knowledge is so accessible in today’s society due to the internet, meaning that any views regarding any topic, can be found. There will always be people who misinterpret information or try to disprove it because it contradicts their beliefs. This is because we are now acquiring knowledge not just from professionals, but from people we know personally and trust. I think if we educated people more on these controversial issues at a young age, it could potentially shape the way they view knowledge and make them more aware of how to interpret things. Like Mooney states, we cannot always persuade people through evidence and argument. Perhaps education on certain topics will allow people to make more informed conclusions. This is most definitely a challenge however because of how large of a role exterior influences like religion play in people’s lives. Mooney claims these things play a huge role in how Conservatives view science. He states that if they are not receiving information from a business or religious leader, they will not respond well. Mooney says that Conservatives are focused on, “defending the status quo” (Mooney, 4), and even brings up the fact that researchers believe there are psychological differences between liberals and conservatives. This all may be true, especially the statement Mooney makes about how conservatives tend to listen to big businesses and religious leaders. Religion and Capitalism, while not bad things, can have a huge effect on the mindset of politicians, and steer their decisions in detrimental directions.
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