Volume XXII, Number 11 (Issue 1057) March 11, 2024
When Falsehoods Are Taken to be Facts
The late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan is credited with saying, “Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts”. That comment comes to mind on a regular basis – particularly when we engage clients in a planning session or change management discussion. That is because somewhere near the start of most of those meetings, we take time to encourage the participants to “clear their filters”. More specifically, we ask them to be hyper-conscious of and hopefully not unduly influenced by any of the following psychological biases:
Affinity (aka Selection) Bias: The tendency to surround one’s self with people of similar backgrounds, experiences, and points of view.
Anchoring Bias: The tendency for one’s first experience/encounter to establish a basis for comparison to items that are similar (seemingly identical).
Binary Bias: The tendency to see inherently complex issues as having only two positions (right or wrong, black or white).
Confirmation Bias: The tendency, particularly among researchers, to select the data points that support their conclusion while simultaneously excluding or discounting any data points that run counter or disprove their hypothesis.
Desirability Bias: The tendency to ignore data that the researcher deems supportive of an outcome they find personally distasteful.
Fundamental Attribution Error: The tendency to ascribe reasons for others’ actions without actual knowledge of the facts (while also excusing one’s own behaviors by attributing them to events beyond our control).
Status Quo Bias: The tendency to want to stay the course (stay with the familiar) even when there is growing evidence the old solutions are becoming less and less effective.
Bandwagon Effect: The tendency to do something/believe something because others have done it/believe it, particularly when that “other” is in a position of authority.
Noise: A measure (and the nature of the source) of variability in all decisions/assessments involving human (non-algorithmic) judgement.
I bring Senator Moynihan’s comment and this collection of psychological biases up because I find them to be closely related to another psychological construct – selective memory. For the record, there are two forms of selective memory – the clinical variety and the intentional variety. The clinical variety is a form of amnesia and as such, genuine memory loss. The intentional form of selective memory is a little more suspect since it also tends to be situational. Think of it as someone who is asked to testify but rather than offer their recollection of an event or situation claims to not recall the event or the specifics. In that application it can be an artful way to take the fifth without pleading the fifth.
By having introduced the concept of selective memory, I can now reference some additional memory-connected terminology including belief perseverance, false correlation, and attitude polarization. Belief perseverance is akin to binary bias in that those operating with belief perseverance are incapable of accepting information that contradicts their understanding of and the faith they hold in their opinions (i.e., their point of view). Thus, their opinions become truths and truths become their “facts.” False correlation is the ready acceptance of a cause-and-effect relationship where none exists. Finally, there is attitude polarization or the ready embrace of data points that tend to support their beliefs, are ambiguous to the point of being open to interpretation, or can be taken out of context in ways that confirm their opinions. But it does not end there, for they are equally capable of rejecting any information that does not align with their beliefs.
In a world where we are constantly bombarded with information including much that is false or misleading, knowing that we can be manipulated is not comforting. The best defense we have is to do our homework, consider the source, and take much of what we hear with more than a grain of salt. An equivalent workplace expression one sometimes hears is “be slow to hire, fast to fire”.
Soli Deo Gloria
“For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” 2 Timothy 4:3-4
J. Keith Hughey
Mobile: (210)260-0955
E-mail: keith@jkeithhughey.com
Website: www.jkeithhughey.com
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