Humans
are said to be rational beings. Compared to any other living beings, humans are
considered to be much more equipped in using reason and logic in their actions.
This can be corroborated by the fact that the neocortex (the outermost covering
of the brain), associated with higher order brain functions such as cognition,
is developed the most in humans, in comparison to any other living organism.
The front part of the neocortex, known as the frontal lobe, is specifically
associated with higher order cognitive skills such as reasoning, problem
solving, and decision making.
The
neocortex and thus the frontal lobe being the most developed in humans, as
compared to other living organisms, suggests that human beings are very accurate
in the higher order cognitive skills associated with them. These higher order
cognitive skills used in making important judgments that can be very crucial
for the growth and development of the individual.
Research,
however, indicates the contrary. Human beings, just because having a frontal
lobe that is highly developed does not necessarily make them highly skilled in
the cognitive abilities associated with it, and therefore, does not necessarily
make them very accurate in making judgments. They surely have the potential,
but that is not always the case.
Human
beings have been found to try to make as little cognitive effort as possible.
It has been found that humans try to come to conclusions quickly with putting
very little of their cognitive capacities into use, consequently being termed
as cognitive misers. This, often, makes individuals fall trap to what
psychologists call cognitive biases. Cognitive bias is referred to a deviation
from rationality in making a judgment.
Such
biases in judgment are very often made when it comes to evaluating other
people. This cognitive bias is referred to as halo effect. According to this, when it comes to making an overall
judgment about others, people, very often do so on the basis of one or a few characteristics
of the person. Quite often one positive characteristic of the person makes
him/her to be evaluated positively in other aspects
For
instance, if a person is found to be physically attractive, very often he/she
is also evaluated to be intelligent, hardworking, and having good social
skills. Likewise, a good communicator maybe evaluated as a good leader, which
many a times may not necessarily be the case. In the same manner, one negative aspect of a
person becomes a basis to evaluate that person negatively in other aspects.
It
is very obvious that making an overall evaluation of an individual on the basis
of one aspect, positive or negative, is not the right way to do so. Just
because a person has one positive or negative aspect does not really mean that
he or she will be the same for other aspects. Despite this, people very often
do make such errors in judgment.
The
halo effect, even though a cognitive bias, becomes the basis for developing
relationships and even hiring people for jobs. Research shows that people who
are found to be physically attractive have a better probability to be hired for
jobs, even if they may not be competent enough for that job.
The
halo effect can also be used to manipulate the judgment of people. Many a times
an individual may be deliberately presented in a way in which one of their
positive or negative aspect is highlighted. Based on that one aspect, people,
without even thinking properly, make an overall assessment of that person. This
is how public relations agencies and media houses function when it comes to creating
a positive or negative image of film and television personalities, and even politicians.
Such
a bias has been corroborated in classic social psychological research,
especially by psychologists Edward Thorndike and Solomon Asch. It is, therefore,
advisable to form impressions only after knowing multiple aspects of the
individual, and not just one aspect. By doing so, it will help in not falling
trap to the halo effect, and thus, not evaluating people in an inaccurate
manner.
One
of the most commonly occurring and widely researched cognitive biases is that
people tend to make judgments on the basis of information that is readily
available, which is called the availability
heuristic. Individuals encounter a lot of information around them. This
information can be in the form of the conversations that they have with others
or it could be available in the general media and the internet.
The
authenticity of these information and whether or not these are the only information
available, can be questionable. Yet, people, without thinking about it take
such information as a given, easily believe it, and make their judgments on the
basis of that.
There
has been a lot of research that shows that information can be manipulated to be
made readily available. Especially, media has, more than often, been found to
present some information and not highlight or display a lot more information.
Information, time and again, has been found to be manipulated by the media to
make people believe something and not even think about other things. The
excessive usage of internet and information being so easily accessible through
social media, has made such things easier.
Often
it has been found that the information that is presented is not even accurate.
In recent times, it has been found that there has been a presentation of a lot
of fake information. Not only people start believing this, but they also come
forward to defend and support such information. Only because this information
is readily available, people tend to believe it, without thinking much about
it.
This
tendency of believing any information that is readily available, even if it is
inaccurate, is worrisome, especially when it has been found that it is being
deliberately presented by media houses, corporates, and political parties. By
making such information readily available, they are manipulating the thought
processes of individuals by making them believe what they want. In doing so,
they are made to be away from the truth and believe what is false, and take forward
their agenda, no matter how dangerous or illogical it may be.
A
lot of advertising agencies use the availability heuristic very well to promote
a product. For instance, eatables are promoted in a specific way in such that
more and more people buy it, even if it is unhealthy; the health aspect many a
times is deliberately not revealed.
A
very common misuse of the availability heuristic by media houses and social
media is to spread false or misleading information about specific social
groups. Because such information is so readily available, people start
believing in it, no matter how misleading or incorrect it may be. This plays an
important role in developing stereotypes. These stereotypes become a basis for
developing hatred among people. Often political organizations use media houses
and social media to spread such information and misguide people.
They
more than often succeed in doing so, because people have the tendency of
falling trap to what is called the outgroup
homogeneity effect. The outgroup homogeneity effect is the tendency to view
people from the outgroup to be more similar and less diverse as compared to the
group that they belong to.
One
of the reasons for this is a lack of information about the other group. The lack
of information makes it easier for individuals to fall trap of the availability
heuristic. When people do not know much about members of an outgroup then they
tend to believe whatever information that is provided to them. This becomes all
the more possible when such (misleading) information is constantly out there
via social media and other media houses.
Therefore,
the availability heuristic coupled with the outgroup homogeneity effect tend to
create strong negative and inaccurate beliefs. These beliefs get further
enhanced due to the tendency of people overweighing information that is similar
and confirming to their beliefs, and disregarding and undermining information
that is disconfirming. This is a fundamental cognitive bias known as the confirmation bias or confirmatory bias.
Because
of overweighing of information that is confirming, people tend to completely
ignore and undermine any counter-argument. Further, they will seek out
information that supports their belief and ignore information that contradicts
their belief. They also tend to misinterpret information, so that their beliefs
are supported. Finally, they even recall information that is confirming.
The
confirmation bias takes place because people do not want to be proved wrong and
always want to be proved right. This is why when any information that is
contradicting their beliefs, they ignore and disregard it, and even tend to
trivialize it. Such information creates cognitive dissonance, which is a
discomforting experience when confronted with contradictions. In order to
reduce this dissonance, people get drawn towards information that is more in
light of their existing beliefs. Such acts also tend to be reinforcing them as
it helps them to prove themselves to be right.
Again,
the way in which information is presented can play a role in having
confirmation bias. When people are always exposed to similar kind of
information, from media houses or their peers and family members, it
continuously reinforces their beliefs. The more exposure they get to
information confirming their beliefs the more reinforced they feel, and the
more they will undermine any contradictory information in order to sustain that
pleasant feeling of being reinforced.
It
is a well-established fact that human perception and beliefs are blemished with
inconsistencies, fallacies, and inaccuracies. The many cognitive biases are
good examples of this. This problem gets intensified to a much greater extent when
socio-political organizations, media houses, and corporates deliberately take
advantage of these cognitive biases and present information in such a way that
misleads and misguides people.
However,
as mentioned above, humans, even though are known to be cognitive misers,
certainly do have the potential for deep level cognitive processing. This is
where the idea of critical thinking comes into play. Critical thinking is about
always doubting, questioning, and challenging one’s ideas and beliefs, even the
deepest of beliefs. It involves not accepting any information as a given, even
from the most trusted individuals or the highest of authorities, and looking at
multiple facets of the same information, before coming to any kind of
conclusion.
Critical
thinking also involves the idea of not always being right and accepting that
one can be wrong, and that there is nothing wrong in changing one’s perspective
and beliefs according to more reliable and accurate information. This is what
in fact makes a person grow. It is about not always being guided by emotions
and rather taking more of a rationalistic and skeptic perspective when making
judgments.
In
the age of social media, media manipulation, and fake news, the understanding
of cognitive biases such as the availability heuristic become highly relevant. People,
for the sake of unwarranted, gratuitous, and unlawful gains can easily and unknowingly
be misinformed and misguided. It has the tendency to have adverse ill-effects
on not only the individual psyche, but on the society and civilization as a
whole.
An
understanding of these cognitive biases, therefore, helps in countering such
illicit acts, which has the potential to prosper the individual and the society.
It gives the realization that there is a need to constantly ask questions, dig
in the multiple layers, reach the innermost of depths, and not accept the
given, the obvious.
3 comments:
Very nice article. Misinformation is very prevalent today due to social media. Anyone can start posting any information freely and are guaranteed to get an audience. Many political parties and media houses actually have armies of people who are paid to only spread misinformation on social media to sway people's thoughts and beliefs. It's a very very sad and unfortunate situation.
Yeah, social media is really misused in this manner by political parties. I read this book called The Dark Net by Jamie Bartlett. He has written a lot about it in the book.
It is really unfortunate that people easily get swayed by all this ...
please continue writing .. thesearticles are so informative and amazing ..great work
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