TL;DR There’s a hole between your perception and reality. This is made worse by your Belief Systems (BS) and your friend’s Belief Systems. Dr. Solomon Asch demonstrated that motivated liars can make this hole bigger.
The Scientific Method
The scientific method involves asking questions, researching topic areas, creating hypotheses, experimentation, analyzing the data, and reporting the conclusions for others to start the process over with new questions.
Believing Science and Other Ways of Knowing
“Believing Science” is a faith based approach more widely adopted than it used to be. It starts with something you heard from a college professor, news anchor, advertisement, scientist or government agency, and then canceling anyone who asks questions.
It’s much simpler.
You see, the scientific method is complex, it’s expensive, it’s time consuming and very rarely gives a clear-cut result. That data isn’t always comfortable, nor does it always fit with our assumptions.
Perception, Risk and Policy
“The Earth isn’t flat nor is it at the center of the solar system” has held despite being questioned, scrutinized, and tested for centuries.
While “We live on the back of a Turtle” will fit some observations, it won’t hold against the scrutiny of the scientific method and it’s not a good model for risk analysis for international navigation.
If your choices are to be turtle food and/or a boat floating in turtle poop, navigating to a new continent may not be in your culture’s cards.
Perception and Reality
Free discourse and the Scientific Method iteratively shrink the gap between perception and reality over time. But what if certain areas of scientific inquiry are off limits and social pressure can actually increase the gap between reality and perception?
Since the 1960s, scientists in study after study have measured confirmation bias. When presented with new information, humans tend to discard it in favor of things they already believed.
People’s Belief Systems (BS) supporting a directional goal can keep a perpetual gap between perception and reality. Group enforcement of these Belief Systems can actually widen it.
For over 70 years, since Dr. Asch performed his famous, reproducible experiments that liars (confederates) in a group can pressure subjects into seeing a short line as longer than a longer line. This conflict averse consensus driven illusion is known as Asch Conformity.
Groupthink is what happens when a group member’s physical bodies, social reputation, or occupational status are threatened and certain questions are not asked.
ASCH Conformity and the War on All Men
Certain topics are guaranteed to be fact-resistant due to politically correct or advertiser friendly belief systems and motivated reasoning.
Some examples are Affirmative Action, the gender pay gap, and police homicides involving histrionic Women and BIPOC, who are generally perceived as oppressed or victim classes.
Studies have shown that people Cluster B personality Disorders, including Histrionic Personality Disorder, are more likely to signal victimhood.
Women tend to be more agreeable than men, more likely to value social status, and 40% more likely to experience depression. Pew research indicates a majority of progressive white women aged 18-29 were likely to have had a medical professional give them a mental health diagnosis.
25% of women identify themselves as feminists.
While there’s no consistent definition of what feminist beliefs are, most will generally agree that equality for men and women is desirable. Similarly, very few people will argue that Black lives don’t matter or that Fascism should go unopposed.
Social media makes ignoring contrarian news, or blocking those with contrarian views, easier than ever.
Recap
The scientific method is complicated and most people prefer science that confirms what they already believe. Experiments have proven our reality is shaped by peer pressure and some sick people are motivated to lie and exploit victim sanctity taboos.
- There is a gap between perception and reality.
- That gap is made up of Belief Systems (BS)
- The gap between perception and reality can be widened by peer pressure (Perception Hole)
- The more homogenous your social network’s belief, the greater the gap between perception and reality
In Summary
The more of your own Belief System (BS) you’re exposed to without hearing the other side, the bigger the ASCH HOLE you become.
