I can't believe they publish this stuff

[Scouts Out]

Confirmation bias (also called confirmatory bias or myside bias) is a tendency of people to favor information that confirms their beliefs or hypotheses.

People display this bias when they gather or remember information selectively, or when they interpret it in a biased way.

The effect is stronger for emotionally charged issues and for deeply entrenched beliefs. For example, in reading about current political issues, people usually prefer sources that affirm their existing attitudes. They also tend to interpret ambiguous evidence as supporting their existing position.

Biased search, interpretation and memory have been invoked to explain attitude polarization (when a disagreement becomes more extreme even though the different parties are exposed to the same evidence), belief perseverance (when beliefs persist after the evidence for them is shown to be false), the irrational primacy effect (a greater reliance on information encountered early in a series) and illusory correlation (when people falsely perceive an association between two events or situations).

[fishingpox]

Perception is Reality. The topic didn't discuss why some people who are moral relativist. We can beat this to death spiritually and a worldly humanist views. As usual, I'm slow. But yes, I'm biased. There are absolutes.

[Lowellhturner]

perhaps looking at any subject is ultimately a personal point of view/ personal experiences/ situational combination. strange idea, but the sky is NOT actually "blue' in the strictest sense; it appears "blue' because the gases in it largely asorb every color BUT "blue"; the "blue" light waves are reflected and interpreted by our eyes as "blue". for all practical purposes we say "the sky is blue" when it would be scientifically more accurate to say "we "precieve" the sky AS blue". same with most other things morally, there is only rarely true "black" or "white", almost everything is very commonly a greater or lesser shade of grey...

[Uncle BS]

A man who reads nothing at all is better informed than a man that reads nothing but newspapers ! (Mark Twain)

[CrappiePappy]

Yep .... nobody likes to be wrong, so they'll perceive or spin it in whatever way it takes to make it "right" in their mind.

... cp

[LBM]

I would of liked to have read those links in your post but they all returned this.

"404 - Document Not Found

The requested object or URL, /wiki/Hypothesis was not found on this server.

The link you followed is either outdated, inaccurate, or the server has been instructed not to let you have it.

Please inform the administrator of the referring page, http://www.crappie.com/crappie/off-t...ish-stuff.html.







Click here to go to the www.Crappie.com Home Page

Click here to go to the Crappie.com Message Board"

[Scouts Out]

LMB, sorry about that. Simple Wikipedia search for "confirmation bias" will get you there. Straight lift from them.

Try this one, sir.
Confirmation bias - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Their piece also includeds something that I hope we don't fall prey to. Certainly applies to the "other side" too, as we defend our positions with vigor.

Backfire effect-
A similar cognitive bias found in individuals is the Backfire effect. Here, individuals challenged with evidence contradictory to their beliefs tend to reject the evidence and instead become an even firmer supporter of the initial belief.

[filletfetish]

Just about every piece of thinking can be dissected and named. There are people out there that make it there profession, or goal, to figure out how they can analyze every possibe method of thinking and then trying to apply their own thoughts. It's almost like trying to name every star as far as the greastest telescope can see. I know you're trying to insinuate that many of us are a little over the top on a few subjects and refuse to educate ourselves otherwise. The only problem is, we're also the ones that know that we only get to hear bits and pieces of each story. Too much cover up, too much scandal, and too many career politicians. If you think I'm paranoid, you're wrong. If you care to give my method of thinking a proper term...call it Right.

[RetiredRR]

Anything can be torn apart and put back together. Not always done right when you have a nut left over and can't figure out where it came from.
Can't say I always agree with everything I read, regardless of where it is written. Well, maybe one exception. All that to say this. What one person
thinks is a great work of writing may be just a lot of hooey to another. Not everyone thinks the writings of Mark Twain is so great. I think writings
and their greatness is in the minds of the reader. No two minds will ever see all things equally, regardless of intelligence. Too many folks have yet
to realize being created equal does not mean in all respects. It has been 70 years and still learning. I do know what my limits are and they are growing
and becoming more apparent. One day I will wake up and ask myself, "who am I and what am I doing here?"

[Scouts Out]

filletfetish, thanks for the reply. If this is a place to vent, then I'm all for it. Everyone needs to vent, I believe.

However, if this is a place where one might come to form and try out ideas on how to better the nation- then we might want to consider human nature (governing and being governed is a wholly human endevour..."of, by, and for the people" and all that). I am on your team.

But legitamacy is important and it is hard to be legitimate without considering the issues more abstractly than I percieve some on this forum (both "sides") do. I do NOT minimize your position, in fact, I want to strengthen it. But if "they" think that all we do is sit around in our tin foil hats and spew hateful talk on the internet, we amplify our disadvantage.

Every single piece of thinking can be disssected and named (I think). (That's a bad joke). I know you are Right. Seriously, agree with your notions. Literally just a lift from Wikipedia discussing the line of science that describes human behavior.

Nothing insinuated, it's flat out human nature. Everyone has bias. But knowing that none of us is super, that is above, human has value. Knowing you are biased might be half the battle. Knowing your "opponent" is biased might be the other half. But then again, I also think there is value in astronomy and physics, though- naming stars and such .