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posted by Fnord666 on Saturday April 01 2017, @12:39AM   Printer-friendly
from the I'll-tell-you-tomorrow dept.

Gullibility occurs because we have evolved to deal with information using two fundamentally different systems, according to Nobel Prize winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman.

System 1 thinking is fast, automatic, intuitive, uncritical and promotes accepting anecdotal and personal information as true. This was a useful and adaptive processing strategy in our ancestral environment of small, face-to-face groups, where trust was based on life-long relationships. However, this kind of thinking can be dangerous in the anonymous online world.

System 2 thinking is a much more recent human achievement; it is slow, analytical, rational and effortful, and leads to the thorough evaluation of incoming information.

While all humans use both intuitive and analytic thinking, system 2 thinking is the method of science, and is the best available antidote to gullibility. So, education tends to reduce gullibility and those who receive scientific training in critical, sceptical thinking also tend to be less gullible and less easily manipulated.

Differences in trust can also influence gullibility. This may be related to early childhood experiences, with the idea that trust in infancy sets the stage for a lifelong expectation the world will be a good and pleasant place to live.


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  • (Score: 2) by martyb on Saturday April 01 2017, @01:48AM

    by martyb (76) Subscriber Badge on Saturday April 01 2017, @01:48AM (#487422) Journal

    It feels good and is easy to just go with the lower brain. Especially if you're damaged or traumatized, in which case you might not physically be able to make a proper evaluation because the surge of stress chemicals will not let you. The wizard's rules are largely correct, if a bit incomplete. (emphasis added)

    WRT to the part I bolded, I think it also has to do with one's experiences.

    When I went with my gut feelings as a child, I very often found myself disappointed. Upon further thought, I would realize that there was a better decision I could have made, if only I didn't make such a rash decision. So, it was simple Pavlov conditioning that *I* trained myself to "look before I leaped". It might have been "easy" to go with the quick decision, at first; but in the end it did not pay off.

    I suspect others had a different experience, and came to trust their "gut instincts", instead.

    The reality, I suspect, is that I had a greater awareness of and/or sensitivity to the disappointing outcome, and thus was more motivated to change my thinking and behavior. Others may have experienced similar outcomes to mine, but were less affected by the outcomes and so continued in their prior way of thinking: going by their gut reaction.

    --
    Wit is intellect, dancing.
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