A recent article by Michael Shermer from Skeptic Magazine in the Los Angeles Times makes some very interesting points about belief and how we’re all affected by it.
Michael is talking here about ‘Confirmation Bias‘, which is a tendency to interpret new information as confirming our beliefs and prejudices or to avoid information which might contradict them. Several examples including Jim Jones’ Jonestown mass suicide and others are great examples, but the more subtle examples he raises are far more important for us directly.
The article points out how, for example, Republicans and Democrats both tend to read and listen to news that supports their views … in fact how we all do. We look for and try to find ways to support our own thinking without giving other ideas a fair hearing. We ignore or avoid evidence that we might be wrong. Unfortunately, that’s the sort of thinking which gets us and everyone else in trouble.
I was trained in a Jesuit University and saw first hand this sort of thinking contrasted with real Critical Thinking.