Do we believe everything we are told?

[Felan]

An interesting article on Overcoming Bias: Do we believe everything we are told (http://www.overcomingbias.com/2007/10/do-we-believe-e.html)

One might naturally think that on being told a proposition, we would first comprehend what the proposition meant, then consider the proposition, and finally accept or reject it. This obvious-seeming model of cognitive process flow dates back to Descartes. But Descartes's rival, Spinoza, disagreed; Spinoza suggested that we first passively accept a proposition in the course of comprehending it, and only afterward actively disbelieve propositions which are rejected by consideration.

The article then goes on to explain an experiment which seems to support Spinoza's view. People processing information differently depending on whether they are distracted or not. The difference, is a very marked increase in reporting false statements as being true while the perception of truthful statements is significantly less impacted.

Given how distracting this world of ours, it seems this could be indicative of an essential and almost imperceptible problem.

[cheese]

I am extremely gullible. When arguing I look away from the person to avoid additional and distracting sensory cues. It improves thought and articulation instantly. Perhaps INTPs could try this if they haven't already.

Haven't finished the article yet. It would be amusing if it were a dupe as well.

[Prof_Pointless]

Interesting. Perhaps it is a sort of remnant of primitive survival instincts. A relic of cognitive process which was useful in gathering information about the world from one another.

For example if I say, "If you eat this berry you will get violently ill." Then it is in your best interest to simply assume I'm communicating this for your benefit based on my experience. So while it is naive, in the largely unpredictable world of our ancestors maybe it helped them survive.

I'm not sure how the distraction part would play into this though.

Just a thought, this is definitely an intriguing article.