Human Stupidity: Irrationality, Self Deception
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Self Deception: "False beliefs are helpful" paradox
Posted by Devils Advocate in Self Deception on 10:14 AM
Life is complicated. There actually are paradoxes that are very hard to solve.
Example: I am convinced religion is wrong. There is no God. But, on the other hand there is lots of research proving “miracles” of religion like
- Imagine a poor, uneducated, violent neighborhood. If any church can gain foothold there, crime decreases, the entire community starts improving and working better. It is good, it is an improvement. So even if the church teaches wrong things, even if the church is run by a fraudster who just wants to siphon away part 10% of the faithful’s income (Tenth, Tithe), the church can have a positive effect. It is false, but it does good.
- James Randi (”Flim Flam”) is a great guy who relentlessly preaches against false beliefs, astrology, wonder healers, dowsing rods etc.
- People who are very religious, people who have supersticious beliefs about their breast cancer recover better then average from breast cancer (research by Professor Shelley Taylor). So if you take their beliefs away, you are reducing their chances of recovery. Positive Illusions by Shelley E Taylor $16.95 0465060528
- Placebo effect in Medicine: if you believe in healing power, you have a good chance of getting healed. And the more invasive the method is the better it works. A huge european study on acupuncture found that sticking needles into someone has a stronger placebo effect then pills. So let us assume that acupuncture and homeopathy are quackery ( I don’t want to discuss the merit of this here and now). But it has effects when done by a professional doctor who is strongly enough self deceived that he honestly believes in it.
Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions by James Randi $22.98 0879751983 James Randi has a US$ 1 Million bet that anyone can win who can show any paranormal effect to him. He never had to pay. For example, James Randi debunked a US$ 1000 dowsing rod that was sold to US police departments. These dowsing rods could identify criminals! But James Randi himself admits that the dowsing rods worked. They helped police identify criminals they otherwise would not have identified. |
Health Psychology by Shelley E. Taylor $64.50 0071283609 |
So maybe the truth does harm. Very disturbing idea! Maybe I should start praising the virtues of human stupidity, self deception and unconsciousness.
Why do we eat bowel-cancer-causing bacon sandwiches?
Posted by Against Irrational Unconscious in Unhealty Lifestyle on 10:18 AM
A different take on the age 0ld issue: why do people smoke, eat unhealty. Why don’t they listen to health advice about dangers that happen in the far future.
While the article does not give clear good answers, nevertheless it gives some funny and interesting suggestions.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8019357.stm
By David Spiegelhalter
Professor of risk understanding, University of Cambridge
[...]
The threat from bacon sandwiches gave the opportunity for The Sun to produce the classic headline “Careless pork costs lives”, while the Daily Telegraph was true to form and frothed on about the nanny-state denying us our bacon birthright.
But all these health warnings tend to have little influence on behaviour, just as scientific derision for homeopathy appears to have no effect on many people’s enthusiasm.
(Deutsch) URMENSCH-DENKEN: Das verfluchte Erbe der Steinzeit
Posted by admin in Evolutionary Psychology on 02:26 PM
Sorry, this entry is only available in Deutsch.
Social evolution and social influence: selfishness, deception, self-deception
Posted by admin in Evolutionary Psychology on 09:48 PM
Reprinted with permission of the Author
University of California at Los Angeles
Social evolution and social influence: selfishness, deception, self-deception
(download PDF version of the paper)
I. TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. Table of contents 2
II. Rationality, consciousness, sincerity 3
A. Unconsciousness and irrationality: the myth of rationality 3
B. Deception: the myth of sincerity 4
C. Hypotheses of this paper: an overview 5
III. Evolutionary theory 6
A. Ultimate reasons 6
B. The survival of the fittest 7
C. Inclusive fitness and altruism: the selfish gene 7
D. Validity of evolutionary theory for humans 10
E. The influence of group living 11
F. War and intergroup violence: group selection revisited 13
G. Learning and culture 15
IV. Deception and impression management 16
Read the entire scholarly paper
Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions by James Randi $22.98 0879751983
Health Psychology by Shelley E. Taylor $64.50 0071283609
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