Week 12 post 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yOoOL9PC-o
Do politics make us irrational? - Jay Van Bave
“Let me now warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party”, george washington “farewell address”
"A people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves, and traitors are not victims... but accomplice." ~ George Orwell
Testing ability to evaluate data sets. ‘Correlation’
Correlation between a new rash and a skin cream and crime rates and gun control legislation
Participants with strong mathematical abilities were very likely to get the first question correct but despite these skills these people STILL got the second question wrong. Why?
It shows how much control our emotions have over things that should be controlled by logistics in theory
“Embrace scepticism. It is not the same as denialism. You can never go wrong when you "trust but verify”
This doesn't only apply to “the other guys”
Math skills weren’t the best identifier of how people answered rather POLITICAL identity
If the subjects political identity aligned with the correct answer to the question these people would answer correctly and vice versa
Even the studies top mathematicians were 45 percent more likely to get the second question wrong when the correct answer challenged their political belief
What about politics that inspires this kind of illogical error?
Cognitive phenomenon called partisanship: strong bias for a group
Our natural tendencies to belong to a group are a healthy part of human life. It is natural to want to protect our groups
This becomes a problem when the groups beliefs are out of line with reality
Ex. when your favorite sports team commits a foul that you know is wrong but your fellow fans are okay with it because its in favor of your side.
The tension between these two incompatible thoughts is called cognitive dissonance
This would be things like blaming the ref, saying the other team started it, or even convincing yourself that it never even happened in the first place
People would rather maintain a positive relationship with their fellow group members than to perceive the world accurately
partisan based cognitive dissonance. This leads people to reject facts. I.e. trump supporters
This can create the support of politics that aren’t rooted in truth or reason
Not a new problem however hyper partisanship has increased significantly
Ways to decrease this bias
Recognize that you are more biased than you think
Make a deliberate effort to push through you initial intuition
Make fact checking a part of your everyday culture
Warm people about misinformation
Frame information in a language they agree with
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVhiFTUbJno
Putting Politics In Its Place | Dr. Robert Talisse | TEDxNashville
Dreading thanksgiving when you hate the way your family voted
Some problems that democracy faces do not require more democracy to fix them rather those problems need less
Ex. its good to have fun, but the surest way to fail at having fun is to make having fun the point of your activity “have fun goddamnit”
Democracy can flourish only when we do things together that have no politics involved at all
We need to be together
We need to put politics in its place
Our everyday activities are conditioned by our political profile
We are polarizing ourselves through politics
“Preaching to the choir”
The polarization within our own groups
^^ group polarization leads to extremism
We become more extreme due to social pressures
This leads to demonizing the people who we disagree with
This makes it hard to hear nuance in the other sides view which means nobody ever wins
This is how we end up seeing everyone else as extremists
Deadlocks and politics based in animosity
What can be done?
We have to see our political opponents as equals
Disagreement has to exist but disagreement needs to be civilly and respectfully
Civic friendships
We are all equally citizens
We need to find compassion to be together
For example… the etiquette of thanksgiving can lead to togetherness
PERSONAL NOTE: i hate the idea of iowa nice because I don't think it is always responsible or morally superior to avoid the conversation of politics at holidays. Sometimes it is not politics but human rights.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpVY-nQjD3k
Why it's important for youth to engage in politics | Corbin Kelley | TEDxYouth@DoyleAve
Leadership isn't top down rather it is bottom up
As a leader you aren’t there for your self interests but you are there to serve others, to serve your group.
Servant leadership isn’t easy
WHen we continue wanting to grasp onto leadership many people often times forget what it means to be a leader
Accountability for mistakes is necessary. Leaders must accept that the mistakes they make are what lead to their downfall, not the evil other
You have to let go of your control
Being a leader isn’t about a title. It is about serving those in your community.
Find your potential and act on it
Participate fully for your community. Represent the youth. Break perceptions and stereotypes that we can’t get involved in politics.
Elevate youth voices
Question your OWN point of view
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOLmD_WVY-E&list=WL&index=7
Why incompetent people thing they’re amazing - David Dunning
Are you as good at things as you think you are?
We are not very good at evaluating our own abilities
The Dunning- Kruger effect
We show illusory superiority to agree that violates the laws of math
Ex. When software engineers at two companies were asked to rate their performance 32 percent of engineers in one company and 42 percent at the other put themselves in the top 5 percent
In another study 88 percent of american drivers believe themselves to be good rivers
On average people tend to rate themselves better than most in many different disciplines
Those with the least ability tend to be those to over rate themselves the most.
The people who are measurably poor at logical reasoning all tend to rater their expertise almost as well as experts in those areas do
All of us are vulnerable to this because we all have pockets of incompetence
The same knowledge gaps that cause the mistakes in the first place stop people from realizing their mistakes or faults in the first place
It’s not a question of ego, rather a question of competence and misunderstanding
Once people are informed they can typically see how poorly they used to perform
This is why people with a moderate amount of expertise lack confidence. They enough to know there is a lot that they don’t know
This is the same reason that experts make the mistake of assuming everyone else is knowledgeable too
People are often caught in a bubble of inaccurate self perception
Ask for feedback from other people
Keep learning
“When arguing with a fool first male sure the other person isn’t doing the same thing”
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/eight_reasons_to_distrust_your_own_perceptions
Eight Ways Your Perception of Reality Is Skewed
BY JILL SUTTIE | SEPTEMBER 3, 2020
Seeing is believing. To some extent, that’s true, of course: Our eyes allow us to see what’s around us, helping us navigate our world
1. Our energy and abilities impact our perspective
our physical bodies and our ability to move influence how we view our surroundings
researchers have found that if you are obese or tired, distances look farther to you. People wearing heavy backpacks see steeper hills in front of them than those without backpacks.
If you are holding something that extends your reach—like a grabber—things appear closer to you, too. In sports, successful baseball batters
2. Our body awareness affects our decisions
researchers studied hedge fund managers who have to make quick decisions about stock trading under intense pressure
Managers who could more accurately count their own heartbeats without touching their bodies were more successful traders
People who were more confident in their accurate count, however, were not more successful, and the bigger the gap between their confidence and accuracy, the higher their anxiety. This suggests that actual awareness of your body can be useful in high-stress work situations
people who are more aware of their heartbeats are better able to calm themselves under stress and, therefore, make cooler decisio
3. Being hungry (or not) changes our choices
Our body’s energy levels also impact decision-making. In one experiment, participants who drank a sugary drink made better decisions and delayed immediate gratification longer than people who gulped down a sweet-tasting drink without glucose.
children who eat breakfast do better in school and have fewer behavioral problems
“The way you think is endlessly tied to how you physically feel,”
4. Easy-to-read statements seem more true
in one experiment, when researchers asked participants to determine the truth of a statement—like “Lima is in Peru”—written in different colors, participants agreed more with easy-to-read statements than less easy-to-read ones
This tendency can be undone if you simply point it out to people. But, otherwise, these forces operate below conscious awareness, and we can be duped by how easy something is to believe or retrieve in our minds
Our penchant for fluency makes us susceptible to bullshit—if it feels right, it is right—and when that vulnerability is scaled up to the level of media, you get truthiness and fake news
5. Our feelings affect our political views
In one study cited in the book, researchers found that people who are more easily disgusted—when imagining things like a garbage pail filled with maggots or a piece of chocolate cake in the shape of dog poo—tend to be more conservative politically.
they tend to have stronger negative feelings about people who support sexual freedoms they disagree with—like gay rights or the right to an abortion. Feelings like disgust—which come out of the limbic system of our brains, often below conscious awareness—guide our reactions and evaluations, making them less than impartial.’
6. Feeling bad makes things seem harder
Anyone who’s ever felt sad or depressed knows it’s hard to face the world when you’re down. But it’s interesting to note that these feelings also change our sensory perceptions. For example, people listening to melancholic music tend to think a hill looks steeper than people listening to happy music.
7. Having other people around make things seem easier
The presence of other people affects our perception in difficult situations, too. Holding hands with someone while experiencing a painful event can lessen the pain. Anticipating having to carry a heavy load with someone else (as opposed to alone) makes it appear lighter, and just thinking about a friend can make hills seem less steep
8. Our political beliefs affect our math skills
, in one study, people were asked to solve math equations to verify the truth of a research finding—like whether a vaccine is effective or whether banning guns saves lives. As predicted, people with greater math skills were able to figure out the answers more easily—but only when the result of the calculation didn’t contradict their political beliefs.
If it did, everyone’s math was worse: They solved the problem correctly 25 to 45 percent less often.
This flies in the face of the idea that people just need more information to figure out the truth of a situation. “Thinking—even doing math—is not a process happening in isolation but is instead embedded in our personal thoughts and group identities,” the authors write. “We literally become flummoxed, stupefied, and incapable of wielding our full faculties when confronted with facts that threaten our social identity.”
Clearly, many forces below our conscious awareness affect our perceptions, thoughts, and decisions, and errors abound. Becoming cognizant of those influences could keep us from making costly misjudgments or creating unnecessary conflicts with others who see things differently. The ultimate benefit of that? Hopefully, having a little humility might help all of us to act with less hubris and be more open to other points of view.
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