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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: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 01 2017, @09:37AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 01 2017, @09:37AM (#487545)

    You will absolutely be taken advantage of if you let your emotions rule. If you've ever voted for a Democrat, you're being fucked by a charlatan who is preying on your base, baseless, and backwards, instincts.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 01 2017, @03:35PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 01 2017, @03:35PM (#487644)

    Awww did sumwun get twiggurd?

    You left out the "if you ever voted out of fear, anger, etc." Yes it can apply to democrat voters, but by and large it is republicans who use fear/hate/anger to rile up their voters.