Fascinating ways we’re wrong in almost everything we think
Every day proves beyond reasonable doubt that almost everyone ‘out there’ is an idiot. But those people are looking at you too, and THEY know YOU’RE an idiot! Who’s right? Who’s wrong? Think about it for a second… you know nobody’s perfect, everyone has flaws and makes mistakes, but ‘you’ (and of course, ‘we’) are part of that ‘everyone’. It’s not a question of IF we’re wrong as much as what we’re wrong about… What belief do you hold that’s wrong?
Obviously that’s an impossible question to answer. We trust our own brains and thought processes, but that may be the very thing we’re ‘wrongest’ about! Psychology shows your brain’s a liar, you can’t be objective, your political beliefs are shaped in part by your genetics, and there’s reasons we like some of the things we hate the most.
In our surfing through the InterTubes we often run across interesting psychology articles that, individually, don’t seem quite appropriate for our full newsletter treatment. Nevertheless, we’ve been squirrelling them away and as a group they seem pretty valuable, so we’d like to share them with you now. We’ve tried to link to the original studies or least sensationalistic news story where possible. This article isn’t trying to convince anyone that any one political ‘side’ is right or wrong because science can’t do that. But we are fascinated with the flawed way humans make decisions, the illusions we operate under, and the mental gymnastics we employ to justify them. None of these studies will give you a eureka moment of clarity but they can all be cautionary tales for those who care about the truth of their positions and are self-reflective enough to question their most basic assumptions.
If these studies, reports, and analysis peak your interest then then you’ll also enjoy the Hidden Brain Podcast with Shankar Vedantam on NPR, and the Society for Personality and Social Psychology website and Society for Personality and Social Psychology Facebook Page.
Here’s why you’re wrong…
Why You Can’t Trust Yourself, Mark Manson on Observer, May 2016
To Change Moral Opinions, Use Moral Arguments, Andrew Luttrell on Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Sep 2019
Is the world an exciting or a terrifying place? Your answer can powerfully shape your life and your political views, new research says, Emily Esfahani Smith in Washington Post, Oct 2019
How Partisan Hate Leads People to Believe Lies, Traci Pedersen on PsychCentral.com, Oct 2019
‘Mental rigidity’ at root of intense political partisanship on both left and right, study finds, University of Cambridge, Aug 201
I Heard It Before, So It Must Be True, Susana Martinez-Conde in Scientific American, Oct 2019
Conformity Is Sometimes An Effort To Escape Meaninglessness, Andrew Moynihan on Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Oct 2019
Ethics and the Brain, This Week In Science Podcast, Sep 2019
We admire these do-gooders. We just don’t want to date them. A neuroscientist’s studies show that altruism isn’t always attractive. Sigal Samuel on Vox, Aug 2019
People with low emotional intelligence are more likely to vote Republican, new study claims, review of “The relationship between emotional abilities and right-wing and prejudiced attitudes” by Alain, et al, APA Psychnet, 2019
When False Claims Are Repeated, We Start To Believe They Are True- Here’s How Behaving Like A Fact-Checker Can Help. Matthew Warren in the British Psychological Society Research Digest, Sep 2019
Dunbar’s number: Why we can only maintain 150 relationships, Christine Ro on BBC Future, Oct 2019
Lie To Me: Liars Harder To Detect Than Most Believe, Study Finds, by Ben Renner on Study Finds, Aug 2019
Can you use narrative to shape your life? Matt Davis on Big Think, Aug 2019
Facts and stories: Great stories undermine strong facts, Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Aug 2019
New scientific model can predict moral and political development, Stockholm University, Aug 2019
Seeing Is Believing: Fake News May Lead To False Memories, Voter Study Finds, John Anderer on Study Finds, Aug 2019
Perceived differences between “diverse” and “sufficiently diverse”, Evelyn Iritani on UCLA Anderson Review, Sep 2019
If You’re Not Scared About Fascism in the U.S., You Should Be, Stanley, Westbrook, and Weeks in NY Times, Oct 2018
Why we believe fake news, Tom Chatfield on BBC.com, Sep 2019
Understanding Cultural Differences Around Social Norms, Michele Gelfand in Behavioral Scientist, Sep 2019
It’s A Meaningful Life: The Surprising Existential Benefits Of Self-Control, Stavrova and Kokkoris on Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Sep 2019
We’re All Gonna Die! How Fear Of Death Drives Our Behavior, Chankar Vedantam et all, Hidden Brain podcast, Sep 2019
Study suggests that many conflicts could be avoided with more deliberation, Jack Wang on Phys.org, Sep 2019
What Makes People Think That An Action Is Morally Wrong? Piazza and Sousa on Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Oct 2019
In New Research, Psychologists Explore The Upside Of Political Incorrectness, Mark Travers on Forbes.com, Oct 2019
The Self-Confidence Tipping Point- There seems to be a key difference between self-esteem and narcissism, Olga Khazan in The Atlantic, Oct 2019
Under time pressure, people tell us what we want to hear, Association for Psychological Science on Medical Xpress, Oct 2019
The Benefits Of Right-Wing Authoritarianism, Jake Womick on Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Oct 2019
