 |
|
Amuse
Blogs
Food
Life
Links
News
Pictures
Rants
Site
Tech
Words
This post at the always-interesting Edge.org (via) is an excerpt from a recent study published in the journal Science by Yale psychologist Paul Bloom which explores why people will go to almost any length to not believe in scientific fact.
In brief -- we are all born with a "naive" comprehension of natural physics and the world around us that constantly accepts new information as we experience life. However, much scientific knowledge, particularly contemporary science, often contrasts sharply with the intuitive sense of the world we have. Psychology comes into play at this point -- some people simply opt out of having to choose between authoritative scientific information and their own naive beliefs about the world. It's easier to deliberately remain stupid than it is to accept a vision of the world that requires abstraction and imagination.
And it's not a question of being anti-authoritarian, because those same people willingly accept delivered dogma about all sorts of things from other "authoritative" sources like religion and political institutions. They're more willing to accept those messages as "true" because they compare more favorably to their infantile perceptions of the world around them. Bloom also points out that this sort of behavior is not unique to Americans, it's a universal phenomenon; it's just that the anti-intellectualism so rampant in our culture fosters people holding on to their uninformed worldviews.
© BrianKaneOnline.com 2000-2007