150 - Belief Change Blindness (rebroadcast)
You Are Not So Smart25 Mar 2019

150 - Belief Change Blindness (rebroadcast)

When was the last time you changed your mind? Are you sure?

In this episode we explore new research that suggests for the majority of the mind change we experience, after we update our priors, we delete what we used to believe and then simply forget that we ever thought otherwise.

In the show, psychologists Michael Wolfe and Todd Williams, take us though their new research which suggests that because brains so value consistency, and are so determined to avoid the threat of decoherence, we hide the evidence of our belief change. That way, the story we tell ourselves about who we are can remain more or less heroic, with a stable, steadfast protagonist whose convictions rarely waver -- or, at least, they don’t waver as much as those of shifty, flip-flopping politicians.

This can lead to a skewed perception of the world, one that leads to the assumption that mind change is rare and difficult-to-come-by. And that can lead to our avoiding information that might expand our understanding of the world, because we assume it will have no impact.

The truth, say Wolfe and Williams, is that mind change is so prevalent and constant, that the more you expose yourself to counterevidence, the more your worldview will erode, replaced by a better, more accurate one -- it's just that you probably won't realize it until you look back at old posts on social media and cringe.

- Show notes at: www.youarenotsosmart.com
- Become a patron at: www.patreon.com/youarenotsosmart

SPONSORS

• The Great Courses: www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/smart
• Squarespace: www.squarespace.com/sosmart -- Offer code: SOSMART

Patreon: http://patreon.com/youarenotsosmart


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Episoder(332)

215 - Jerks at Work - Tessa West

215 - Jerks at Work - Tessa West

In this live taping of the podcast at Caveat in NYC, Dr. Tessa West, the author of Jerks at Work, conducts quizzes to see what kind of jerk you are and what kind of jerk most-easily persuades you in t...

19 Sep 20211h 20min

214 - Exploring Genius

214 - Exploring Genius

Over the course of this audio documentary series, David McRaney explores the history and science of intelligence, IQ, and remarkable talent through interviews with dozens of intelligence experts and a...

3 Sep 202135min

213 - Vaccine Hesitancy

213 - Vaccine Hesitancy

In this episode of the You Are Not So Smart Podcast, we sit down with eight experts on communication, conversation, and persuasion to discuss the best methods for reaching out to the vaccine hesitant ...

23 Aug 20212h 51min

212 - The Power of Us - Jay Van Bavel

212 - The Power of Us - Jay Van Bavel

In this episode, we sit down with psychologist Jay Van Bavel to discuss his new book, The Power of Us, an exploration of "the dynamics of shared, social identities. What causes people to develop socia...

8 Aug 20211h 35min

211 - QAnon and Conspiratorial Narratives

211 - QAnon and Conspiratorial Narratives

When we talk about conspiracy theories we tend to focus on what people believe instead of why, and, more importantly, why they believe those things and not other things. In this episode, we sit down w...

25 Jul 20211h 22min

210 - Julia Shaw - The Memory Illusion (rebroadcast)

210 - Julia Shaw - The Memory Illusion (rebroadcast)

Our guest on this episode is Dr. Julia Shaw, the author of The Memory Illusion. Julia is famous among psychologists because she was able to implant false memories into a group of subjects and convince...

11 Jul 20211h 11min

209 - Masks (rebroadcast)

209 - Masks (rebroadcast)

In this episode of the You Are Not So Smart Podcast, we sit down with four experts on human behavior to try and understand how wearing masks, during the COVID-19 pandemic, became politicized. In the s...

28 Jun 20211h 35min

208 - The Extended Mind - Annie Murphy Paul

208 - The Extended Mind - Annie Murphy Paul

In this episode we sit down with Annie Murphy Paul, the acclaimed science writer, whose new book, The Extended Mind is all about how the brain is part of systems, and it is those systems that constitu...

13 Jun 20211h 5min

Populært innen Fakta

fastlegen
dine-penger-pengeradet
relasjonspodden-med-dora-thorhallsdottir-kjersti-idem
treningspodden
rss-strid-de-norske-borgerkrigene
foreldreradet
jakt-og-fiskepodden
rss-sunn-okonomi
sinnsyn
merry-quizmas
hverdagspsyken
takk-og-lov-med-anine-kierulf
smart-forklart
rss-kunsten-a-leve
gravid-uke-for-uke
lederskap-nhhs-podkast-om-ledelse
fryktlos
level-up-med-anniken-binz
rss-kull
tomprat-med-gunnar-tjomlid