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Friday June 19, 2009

The Weekend Edition

ZingerKingis growing.  Three months of Zingers and 2,000 readers.  I thought thiswould be a good time to look back on one of the most important issueswe all face, bias.  It is good to be reminded that each of us has ourown bias that gets in the way of our rational thinking and learning. When we encounter social, economic and political facts, we see these factsthrough our bias.  Our bias is based on our experiences and our beliefs.

HarvardUniversity published a study in the mid 1980's that looked at why smartpeople do not learn easily.  The study concluded that in order to learnwe must first challenge what we know.  If we already have experience orknowledge about something, our tendency is to preserve and defend whatwe know and we do not readily accept new facts that may conflict withwhat we already believe, even when the facts are overwhelming against our prior experience or beliefs.  Overtime we become more entrenched in our thinking. 

This article first appeared April 14/15, 2009.  Today's Zinger is a look back at an earlier article that is worth remembering.

Today's Zinger:

One Of The First Steps To Learning And Change Is Breaking Free Of Our Mental Prison.

The Illusion:

1. Above is a series of pink dots arranged in a circle.  The dots are in motion around the circle.
2. Stare at the center cross.  The moving dot turns green.
3. Continue to stare at the center.  Watch the image as a whole and not the dots. The pink dots disappear and there is only a moving green dot.
Scroll down and stop here.   Watch the dots as described then read on.




First,there is no green dot.  All dots are pink and remain pink.  Second, thedots do not disappear.  There is no change in the pattern.

The Discussion:

Themind works in mysterious ways.  From the earliest man, a key tosurvival has been the ability to look for patterns and process thesepatterns into something that is recognizable.  This is one aspect oflearning.  Pavlov was able to prove that patterns are learned inanimals.  Through conditioning, animals would respond to variousstimuli.  Repeated use of the same stimulus would result in the sameoutcome and therefore the same anticipated result and a learnedbehavior.

Modern man is no different.  Seeing a patternelicits a response.  The response can be the result of a normaleveryday occurrence, like moving traffic, or even a word, likepolitics.  I say Socialism and those on the left cry "foul" and thoseon the right cry "Barack Obama".  Why does this happen since very fewpeople even know what Socialism really is? 

Last Friday's Zinger on Socialism in America and the Need to Reinvent Educationis case in point.  The article pointed out that a recent Rasmussensurvey found a majority of Americans want Socialism.  However, whenquestioned what Socialism means to them they really did not suggestSocialism as defined in political science, but rather a more personaldefinition such as health care for all citizens or being nice to eachother.  The point being,it is not Socialism that they are looking forbut rather some other change from the status quo. 

Theemphasis in my article was a need for better education in the UnitedStates or the majority voting block will be trapped in low paying jobsand there will be a greater push for real Socialism as the majorityvotes for more and more services for themselves.  It was not anindictment of Socialism nor of the peoples ignorance of real Socialism.

Butthat is not how many readers saw it.  To many, the article was acondemnation of social programs or an attempt on my part to labelPresident Obama a Socialist, with all the negative connotations thatthe Republican party has ascribed to Socialism.  I went back and rereadthe article to see if I wasn't very clear in my thesis.  I take someresponsibility in that the title of the article appears to put anegative spin on Socialism, but remember that titles are for the Googlecrowd to find relevant articles.  Reading the article, I felt like themessage was clear.  Unfortunately this means one of three things.

1.)  People are reading the headline and not the article (shame on them).
2.)  I'm not as clear as I think I am (shame on me).
3.)  There is something more profound going on that transcends you and me.

Whichbrings me back to illusions.  An illusion is when the mind, in searchof patterns, thinks something is there that is really not there.  Likethe green dot spinning around the circle above, the mind can cause usto see something that is not there.  There is no difference inpolitics.  Both political parties have used slogans and patterns toestablish a shorthand for their messages.  The Democrats use "failedpolicies of the Bush Administration" as justification for change.  Whenchallenged on the failed policies they refer to, the facts do notsupport the rhetoric.  Republicans use Socialism as a shorthand for theDemocrats growth in government.  When challenged on Socialism, thefacts do not support the rhetoric. 

Functional brain imaginghelps scientists understand the relationship between particular typesof mental activity and particular areas of the brain, by charting whichregions experience increased blood flow or metabolism orelectromagnetic activity under specific stimulus.  It’s a step beyondCT scans, or CAT scans.  A 2005 study evaluated, using brainimaging, how voters with staunch political views deal with data that isin conflict with their beliefs.  The results indicate that we ignorefacts that do not support our predisposed notions on politics.  Here'sa link to an article that dealt with the subject in 2007.    Political bias affects brain activity, study finds

Arecent Scientific American article chronicled how people react topolitical "triggers".  When people read or hear news about abortion,George W. Bush or Democrats, do they evaluate it fairly before reachinga conclusion?  Not at all, say two political scientists at Stony BrookUniversity.  Milton Lodge and Charles Taber maintain that people reactautomatically to "hot button" terms. "Our experiments reveal that theyreact so quickly--in less than 300 milliseconds--that they cannot beconsciously [evaluating] the information," Taber says.      Political Bias Proved. Scientific American Article

Thebrain reacts so quickly that the mind does not allow for a fairevaluation of the facts and then long held beliefs or historicalpatterns prevail.  A 2006 study of why people think the way they doabout politics indicates it may be wired from the time of birthand further developed in early childhood.

Combine the politicalparty rhetoric with a brain that is predisposed to political views anda mind that reacts too quickly to facts that challenge beliefs and youend up with people seeing and hearing what fits their mental patterns,even if its not there.  This is what makes political conversation sodifficult.  How many times have you heard someone say that you can'thave a conversation with a staunch liberal or a conservative becausethey just ignore the facts.  Well, they're right.  The only problem isboth sides ignore the facts as a way to defend our inner self, not indefense of our intellectual self.

Most of us do not seeourselves this way.  Most of us see ourselves as more intellectuallycurious.  Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize winner in Economics and Professorof Economics at Princeton (previously at Stanford and MIT) and authorof numerous articles and books must be considered a very educated andintellectual man, yet he suffers from the same biases.  Dr. Krugmanpublished a book The Conscience Of A Liberal.  publisher Norton, W.W. Company Inc. 2009. The title should have been The Heart Of A Liberal.  In reality, Dr.Krugman ignores facts that do not support his point of view.  This isnot a criticism, though many of his colleagues have levied suchcriticism in the past, but rather an acknowledgment that even thebrightest people are not immune to political bias.

Despite scientific evidence to support political biastriggered by the brain, beliefs can still play a powerful role inshaping political opinion.  Beliefs are learned.  We have all heardabout the liberal bias of the media and the liberal bias of colleges. What role do these groups have on political opinion?  Theyhave a dramatic role which does not negate the scientific evidence butactually supports the brain bias studies.  This will be discussed innext week's ZingerKing.  Our political bias is the result of both nature and nurture.

Thesestudies of the brain, beliefs and political leanings should cause allof us to reexamine information that comes our way.  Certainly, one ofthe most difficult intellectual hurdles is challenging core beliefs anda willingness to let the facts influence our decisions and not allowour feelings or past patterns to get in the way of our logic.  Italmost makes me want to stop adding the section called The Facts: as the lead to ZingerKing.  Apparently the facts are not swaying many opinions.

Iam interested in your views.  Do you think your are able to overcomeyour inner bias?  Are you willing to change deeply held beliefs if thefacts support something different?  Can you listen to or read somethingthat is counter to your thinking and remain open minded enough to trulyunderstand the arguments?  Post a comment or send an email to ZK@zingerking.com.

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