Understanding why we have strong differences interpreting the same “ facts ”

In the past I have written about the affect heuristic.  The affect heuristic is a swift, involuntary response to a stimulus that speeds up the time it takes to process information. Researchers have found that if we have pleasant feelings about something, we see the benefits as high and the risks as low, and vice versa. As such, the affect heuristic behaves as a first and fast response mechanism in decision-making. Now I have learned about two related concepts.  These concepts both explain biases in reasoning – the myside bias and motivated reasoning.  Learning more about these concepts should help us better understand why many debates in medicine (and policy) seem so irrational. The myside bias states that our opinions influence how we evaluate information. A common error that occurs with everyday thinking is Myside Bias — the tendency for people to evaluate evidence, generate evidence, and test hypotheses in a manner biased toward their own opinions. Finally, we should consider motivated reasoning. The processes of motivated reasoning are a type of inferred justification strategy which is used to mitigate cognitive dissonance. When people form and cling to false beliefs despite overwhelming evidence, the phenomenon is labeled “motivated reasoning”. In other words, “rather than search rationally for information that either confirms or disconfirms a particular belief, people actually seek out information that confirms what they already believe.&#...
Source: DB's Medical Rants - Category: Internal Medicine Authors: Tags: Medical Rants Source Type: blogs