"It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they were fooled"
In other words, once you think that you know something(or in many cases, are CERTAIN that you know it) you process all new information related to it in a way that causes biased assumptions.
You see and define "your" world so that things which line up with what you think that you know get into your brain.................where they are stored as what you consider knowledge, only to reinforce what you think that you know.
Things that contradict what you think that you know get rejected............even if they are the truth or are authentic.
The scientific method compels the scientist to NOT think that way....................but as humans with emotions(including ego) they/we can't help it.
Cognitive Biases
https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.0020124
"The trouble with our Liberal friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so."
- Ronald Reagan
.... the largest cotton options "loser" who got pinned on almost every option expiration was a trader with the badge.... "EGO".....
4 million an expiration.... the bigger the F-UP.... the bigger the "new" fundings..... go figure
metmike: While an education and acquiring knowledge makes one less likely to believe in faulty information, some of the most highly educated people suffer from extreme bias. When this happens and they are considered experts in their field...........who non experts rely on to educate them and guide them, then you have the recipe for misleading and misrepresentation on a large scale.
This often takes place innocently because the experts cognitive bias blinds them to the objective truths. Humans, especially those who are in positions of power(that have acquired power because having an influence is part of who they are) will often acquire a bias that works in tandem with their desire to have an influence or to make money.
If believing in and professing in one thing provides great rewards..........monetarily, professionally, prestige and control and having the opposite position has no rewards or even attacts negative attention from ones peers or the faction of people that matter...............in the MAJORITY of cases, it plays a role in that person's belief system for that realm. The amount of weighting that it gets is often greater with the amount of that persons education because the opportunities for exploiting the benefits of biased views are magnified.
yes ....
--- You Are On A Hot Roll ... 7 comes 11