Motivated reasoning
I read a fascinating article this weekend from Newsweek called “Why We Believe Lies, Even When We Learn the Truth,” on a study completed by sociologist Steven Hoffman at the University of Buffalo. Here’s the gist of it:
Some people form and cling to false beliefs about health-care reform (or Obama’s citizenship) despite overwhelming evidence thanks to a mental phenomenon called motivated reasoning, says sociologist Steven Hoffman, visiting assistant professor at the University at Buffalo. “Rather than search rationally for information that either confirms or disconfirms a particular belief,” he says, “people actually seek out information that confirms what they already believe.” And God knows, in the Internet age there is no dearth of sources to confirm even the most ludicrous claims (my favorite being that the moon landings were faked). “For the most part,” says Hoffman, “people completely ignore contrary information” and are able to “develop elaborate rationalizations based on faulty information.”
It’s an interesting thought to ponder, one that’s effecting many of the current issues today. That the availability of more, better information can actually be totally subverted by easy access to false, untrue information. One question I’d have is is this a generational thing? That perhaps the younger generation who’s grown up with the Internet has better built in BS filters. If that is true, then it’s a phenomenon that will be with us the next 20-30 years but will perhaps fade after that point, especially as more standardized, universal Internet-information-rating systems are invented and used everywhere.
UPDATE: I’m late to blogging about this…a quick Google search revealed tons more information/blog posts about “motivated reasoning,” defined by Jonah Lehrer as “we’re all partisan hacks.”
