From the 1960s television program "To Tell the Truth"link to photo
"by repeating a false rumor, they [you] may inadvertently make it stronger" - NYT
The essay below presents a number of interesting ideas. It reminds me of when I learned that someone I knew (fairly intelligent, white, middle class from the midwest)* still believed there really were WMD's in Iraq years after many of us knew otherwise.
The whole idea about truth, lies, and what we believe is especially pertinent to the immigration debate and the current presidential campaigns.
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Your Brain Lies to You
FALSE beliefs are everywhere. Eighteen percent of Americans think the sun revolves around the earth, one poll has found. Thus it seems slightly less egregious that, according to another poll, 10 percent of us think that Senator Barack Obama, a Christian, is instead a Muslim. The Obama campaign has created a Web site to dispel misinformation. But this effort may be more difficult than it seems, thanks to the quirky way in which our brains store memories — and mislead us along the way...
Journalists and campaign workers may think they are acting to counter misinformation by pointing out that it is not true. But by repeating a false rumor, they may inadvertently make it stronger. In its concerted effort to “stop the smears,” the Obama campaign may want to keep this in mind. Rather than emphasize that Mr. Obama is not a Muslim, for instance, it may be more effective to stress that he embraced Christianity as a young man...
Consumers of news, for their part, are prone to selectively accept and remember statements that reinforce beliefs they already hold. In a replication of the study of students’ impressions of evidence about the death penalty, researchers found that even when subjects were given a specific instruction to be objective, they were still inclined to reject evidence that disagreed with their beliefs..
Sam Wang, an associate professor of molecular biology and neuroscience at Princeton, and Sandra Aamodt, a former editor in chief of Nature Neuroscience, are the authors of “Welcome to Your Brain: Why You Lose Your Car Keys but Never Forget How to Drive and Other Puzzles of Everyday Life.”
for complete NYT opinion piece click here
*Being fairly intelligent, white, middle class, and from the midwest does not automatically mean you should know it all. The reason I mention this is that many Americans assume a person with these demographic qualifications would know better.
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