Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive dissonance occurs when someone holds conflicting beliefs, or that person's beliefs conflict with their behavior. The mind doesn't like this, it feels wrong. Often, the mind will try to patch dissonances with lies, half-truths, denials, or rationalizations.

For Example:
Person X loves animals and feels that treating them cruelly is wrong
Person X also loves a good chicken sandwich
Person X finds out that most chicken comes from brutal industrial farms
Person X sees that an animal lover wouldn't torture, murder, and eat an animal 
 
Person X is in a state of cognitive dissonance. How can they love animals and also torture and eat them? It does not make sense. People don't like this. It makes them feel bad.

Now person X has choices:
a) Stop eating chicken (but the sandwich is so good!)
b) Only eat chicken that is grown and harvested humanely (difficult to do)
c) Admit, "I am a bad person," and eat the sandwich (people don't like this)
d) Make up a lie, patching the cognitive dissonance (the easy choice)

If the person chooses "d" here are some frequently chosen lies that would cover this dissonance:
Animals don't hurt like humans do, so hurting and killing them is not really cruelty.

Chickens aren't the same as the animals I love, so this is okay; it's not like I am eating a puppy, right?

The chicken in my sandwich somehow avoided suffering and died quickly, so it's okay.

I don't eat chicken very often, so it doesn't really count.

Last thing:
Some people may now be wondering, "What's the problem. Everybody eats chicken, right?"
To them I say, "Yes, many millions of people eat chicken," so let's try another example.

What if we replace chickens with people? Now, thank goodness, most of us don't eat people, but we do abuse, exploit, conquer, bomb, torture, and enslave them.

But those things are horrible, so let's try an easy one.

Have you ever seen a homeless person who was clearly sick or starving and, when the person asked you for money to buy food, thought to yourself, "I am not going to give him any money; he will probably just spend it on drugs."

If so, you have fallen back on a common rationalization that people often use to patch cognitive dissonance:

You believe yourself to be a good person.
You are, apparently, allowing another person to starve.
You know a good person wouldn't let another person starve right in front of them.
   --- Cognitive Dissonance Occurs Here --- 
You think: This person will spend my money on drugs (here is the lie).
No money = No drugs = You actually helped the person by not giving them money.

If, like me, you are thinking to yourself, "Yeah but..." while filling in another story and getting nervous or angry, you are feeling cognitive dissonance. How will we patch it?

Personally, I just give the person a dollar, if I have any cash on me, and lie to myself that it's enough to really help.  It makes me sick inside, but I don't know what else to do.

Works Referenced:

Cherry, Kendra. "What is Cognitive Dissonance." VeryWellMind. The DotDash Publishing Family, 13 Mar. 2019. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-cognitive-dissonance-2795012. 26 Mar. 2019.

Singer, Peter. "The Singer Solution to World Poverty. The New York Times Magazine. The New York Times Company, 1999, https://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/05/magazine/the-singer-solution-to-world-poverty.html. 25 Mar. 2019.  

The Dunning Kruger Effect

This is a fascinating video about the Dunning Kruger Effect. This effect explains why sometimes we think we know more about something that we actually do, and why we often think we don't know much about subjects that we actually understand pretty well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzyNXwF1vNg

The Cognitive Bias Codex

They say that your mind can play tricks on you, but this is ridiculous.

Are you thinking of a cognitive bias, but you can’t recall its name? Do you ever suspect fallacious thinking, but can’t diagnose its cause? Sure, we’ve all been there. 

But now there’s no need to struggle with floppy flash cards or your fallible memory. Now there’s the Cognitive Bias Codex! This handy-dandy website and graphic presents, like, ALL of the cognitive biases, helpfully organized by cause.

Got information overload? Maybe you are “anchoring” or suffering from “post-purchase rationalization.”

Not exciting enough for you? There’s also the “cheerleader effect,” the “masked man fallacy,” and even the “endowment effect.” Who said college was boring?

And these are just some of the more than 150 disquietingly common mistakes your brain can make!

They’re all here!

Brace for impact folks. Everything you thought you knew is a lie!

All kidding aside, this is a really useful piece of scholarship. This website and graphic contain a comprehensive list of cognitive biases, tricks your mind can play on you which create false impressions and interpretations that can have serious negative effects. Learn them; know them; live better.  

Image: Manoogian, John. "The Cognitive Bias Codex 2016" 

Click on the image for the full sized version. 

Works Cited:

Manoogian, John. “Cognitive Bias Codex 2016.” found at Betterhumans.coach.me. Sep. 2016. Web. 22 Jan. 2018.   

https://betterhumans.coach.me/cognitive-bias-cheat-sheet-55a472476b18

Works Referenced:

Benson, Buster. “the Cognitive Bias Cheat Sheet: Because Thinking is Hard.” Betterhumans.coach.me. 1 Sep. 2016. Web. 22 Jan. 2016.  

https://betterhumans.coach.me/cognitive-bias-cheat-sheet-55a472476b18

Note: the above websites are associated with the parent website Medium.com. This website apparently provides no sponsor information about itself, so that information is missing from the MLA citations.

Mass Hysteria

As an editorial introduction, let me say that this one seems really remarkable to me. I did not know this phenomenon was real, but the data below suggests strongly that it is.

Let me begin by paraphrasing the common elements of this phenomenon from several sources:

Mass hysteria, also called “epidemic hysteria” or “mass psychogenic illness,” or “mass sociogenic illness,” can be generally defined as an outbreak of mental illness that functions something like a virus. In cases of mass hysteria, an intense stress can cause mental and even physical symptoms to spread throughout a related community causing the symptoms of mental illness and even causing psychosomatic symptoms: physical symptoms which have no biological cause.

For example, suppose harmless but unusual smell occurs at a school; let’s say the cleaners changed their preferred cleaning solution. Someone wrongly concludes that the smell is poison from a terror attack, a common theme in the news. The presence of the smell and the fear of the imagined attackers can cause actual physical and mental symptoms to spread from one student to another. Let’s say, while the smell is present, someone faints from something totally unrelated such as heatstroke or low blood sugar. If that incident is attributed to the fictional poison from the fictional terror attack other students may faint as well, even though there is no biological cause.

Here are some other well-documented examples:

John Waller, writing for the Psychologist, the journal of the British Psychological Society, writes:

“In both Western and non-Western settings, mass motor hysteria usually occurs in schools. In 1962, for example, several girls at a mission school near Lake Tanganyika developed a compulsion to laugh and cry by turns. The affliction soon spread to neighbouring populations (Rankin & Philip, 1963). Similar outbreaks of laughing have been recorded in both Zambia and Uganda. In fact, schools in central Africa are especially prone to outbreaks of mass motor hysteria. Late in 2008 several girls in a Tanzanian school responded to the pressure of taking important exams by dissociating: some fainted, while other sobbed, yelled or ran around the school” (Waller).

The website Medscape reports an apparent case of mass psychogenic illness that occurred on a military base in San Diego. This case was originally documented in the Army Journal of Epidemiology in 1990: 

“…one of the largest cases of mass hysteria ever documented, with approximately 1000 military recruits complaining of cough or other symptoms and 375 evacuated by ambulance. A few even received CPR for presumed heart attacks or respiratory arrest. Those who witnessed the CPR efforts had the highest risk of developing symptoms themselves. Nearly all recovered spontaneously within 24 hours and no environmental toxin was identified” (“A History of…”).

These are only two of the many cases cited. Please follow up with the sources below for more information. In particular, the source by John Waller is remarkable in its scope and breadth. 

 Works Cited

“A History of Mass Hysteria.” Medscape.com. WebMD LLC, 2018. Web. 22 Jan. 2018.

https://www.medscape.com/features/slideshow/hysteria

Waller, John. “Dancing Plagues and Mass Hysteria.” The British Psychological Society: The Psychologist.bps.org.uk. July 2009. Web. 22 Jan 2014.

https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-22/edition-7/dancing-plagues-and-mass-hysteria

Works Referenced

Small, Gary. Mass Hysteria can Strike Anywhere, Anytime.” PsychologyToday.com. Psychology Today and HealthProfs.com with Sussex Publishers LLC. 28 Sep. 2018. Web. 22 Jan. 2018.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brain-bootcamp/201009/mass-hysteria-can-strike-anywhere-anytime

Weir, Erica. “Mass Sociogenic Illness.” Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine. 5 Jan 2004. Web. 22 Jan. 2018.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC543940/

Priming

Priming is a technique by which someone could influence another person’s choice, feeling, or response by giving them signals they would not be conscious of. For example, if you showed someone a movie that had triangles subtly worked all through it, then asked that person to choose a number from one to ten, that person could be more likely to choose the number three.

Madeline Ford, staff writer for Motivemetircs.com offers another example:

“[In an experimental word completion task] participants are given a long list of words to read. The list is long enough that participants would not easily be able to memorize it and they also do not know that the words might be helpful later on. Then, the participants are asked to complete words that have some letters left out. For example _EX_G_ _, which can be completed to HEXAGON. Participants who read “hexagon” on the list of words earlier are more likely to get this task correct and also complete it more quickly” (Ford).

And Psychology Today offers this further example, “…a person who sees the word "yellow" will be slightly faster to recognize the word "banana." This happens because yellow and banana are closely associated in memory (“Priming”).

Works Cited

Ford, Madeline. “What is Priming? Consumer Behavior, Psychology, and Case Studies.” Motivemetrics.com. Motivemetrics, 1 Jul. 2013. Web. 22 Jan 2018.

http://blog.motivemetrics.com/What-is-Priming-A-Psychological-Look-at-Priming-Consumer-Behavior

“Priming: What is Priming?” PsychologyToday.com. Psychology Today and HealthProfs.com with Sussex Publishers LLC. 2018. Web. 22 Jan. 2018.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/priming

Confirmation Bias

Image: Breathe Education “Four Kinds of Bias”

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, Confirmation bias is generally defined as the tendency for human beings to collect information that confirms what they already believe and discard or minimize information that contracts what they already believe (Casad). Here are a couple of examples:

Did you ever notice how, when you buy item, everyone else suddenly seems to have one, making you feel better about your choice? Let’s I buy a new car, the “2018 Fjord Fracas.” I go out driving and suddenly, the road seems alive with Fjord Fracases. Every third person suddenly seems to have one. “Wow,” I think to myself. “This must be a good car; I am seeing them all over the place.” This is confirmation bias at work.

Odds are, if I carefully counted all the cars on the road, only a very small portion of them would be Fjord Fracases, but I am only noticing the ones I am now interested in, due to my recent purchase.  

Here is another example from Psychology Today:

…a person with low self-esteem is highly sensitive to being ignored by other people, and they constantly monitor for signs that people might not like them. Thus, if you are worried that someone is annoyed with you, you are biased toward all the negative information about that person acts toward you. You [could] interpret neutral behavior as indicative of something really negative (Heshmat).

Image: Straub, Chris. "On Research."  

For further Reading:

“Confirmation Bias: A Ubiquitous Phenomenon in Many Guises”

by Raymond S. Nickerson of Tufts Universtiy

http://psy2.ucsd.edu/~mckenzie/nickersonConfirmationBias.pdf

Works Cited

Breathe Education. “Four Kinds of Bias.” Vimeo.com. Vimeo Inc. Sept. 2018. Web. 18 Jan. 2018.

Casad, Bettina. “Confirmation Bias.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica Inc. 2018. Web. 18 Jan. 2018.   

Heshmat, Shahram. “What is Confirmation Bias?” Psychology Today. Sussex Publishers HealthProfs.com. 23 Apr. 2015. Web. 18 Jan. 2018.  

Straub, Chris. "On Research." Chainsawsuit.com. Chainsawsuit LLC. 16 Sep. 2014. Web. 22 Jan. 2018.
http://chainsawsuit.com/comic/2014/09/16/on-research/

Apophenia and Pareidolia

Two possible explanations for paranormal events are apophenia and pareidolia. These terms describe the human ability to see connections between things when there are none. Have you ever looked at a cloud and seen a shape that looked like something else? Oftentimes, people see faces in clouds or trees. This is a very common example of pareidolia.  

Jody. “Startled Mop is Startled.” Faces in Places.Blogspot.com. 11 Sep 2013. Web. 16 Jan 2018.

apophenia (Ah-poe-FEE-nee-uh) 
The Merriam Webster dictionary defines apophenia as, “the tendency to perceive a connection or meaningful pattern between unrelated or random things (such as objects or ideas)” (“apophenia”).  

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/apophenia

pareidolia (Pair-eye-doe-lee-uh)

The Merriam Webster dictionary defines pareidolia “the tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern” (“pareidolia”). This is like apophenia, but is specifically for sight.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pareidolia

"apophenia.” Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, 2018.

Web. 8 Jan. 2018.

“pareidolia” Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, 2018. 8 Jan. 2018. 11 Sep 2013. Web. 16 Jan 2018.