Perfect storm for gullibility

[Zzyzx]

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Perfect storm for gullibility

It takes more mental effort to reject an idea as false than to accept it as true. In other words, it’s easier to believe than to not.

Greater brain activation requires more cognitive resources, of which there is a limited supply. What these findings show is that the mental process of believing is simply less work for the brain, and therefore often favored. The default state of the human brain is to accept what we are told, because doubt takes effort. Belief, on the other hand, comes easily.

For Christian fundamentalists, being taught to suppress critical thinking begins at a very early age. It is the combination of the brain’s vulnerability to believing unsupported facts and aggressive indoctrination that create the perfect storm for gullibility. Due to the brain’s neuroplasticity, or ability to be sculpted by lived experiences, evangelicals literally become hardwired to believe far-fetched statements.

This wiring begins when they are first taught to accept Biblical stories not as metaphors for living life practically and purposefully, but as objective truth. Mystical explanations for natural events train young minds to not demand evidence for beliefs. As a result, the neural pathways that promote healthy skepticism and rational thought are not properly developed. This inevitably leads to a greater susceptibility to lying and gaslighting by manipulative politicians, and greater suggestibility in general.
https://www.alternet.org/2019/12/neuros ... A0z3BxAQYY

Agree?

Disagree?

WHY?

Might this help understand some differences seen here in debate and elsewhere?

[William]

[Replying to post 1 by Zzyzx]

William: There are all sorts of things which are believed. Premises are built upon them.
I would not disagree with the opinion of the OP but would also grant the same standard to the mental processes involved with belief formed through rejecting ideas as false, simply because they are based in theistic concepts rather than in secular ones.

Zzyzx: Tell this just turned eighty non-believer all about your hypothesis.

William:I doubt that another 20 years of science is going to change how secularists prefer to hypothesis about their lives, their imaginations, OOBE's, NDE's, Alternate Realities, ET's/Inter-dimensional Entities, Mythology, et al.

What I will offer is that those who believe such is simply 'brain - product' and seldom, if ever, experience such brain productions, might possibly indeed have less brain activity than those who experience and think on such.

I doubt that the amount of brain activity - whatever it is based in - has much to do with anything which proves the better way to use the brain is either secular or theistic, or that somehow theistic brains are less useful than non-theistic brains.

Old Brains wired not to be interested in Theistic Hypothesis are best left to entertain themselves with however they prefer to interpret reality. At least, that is how I have come to understand them, having engaged with many over the years of my own life experience.

[Danmark]

For Christian fundamentalists, being taught to suppress critical thinking begins at a very early age. It is the combination of the brain’s vulnerability to believing unsupported facts and aggressive indoctrination that create the perfect storm for gullibility. Due to the brain’s neuroplasticity, or ability to be sculpted by lived experiences, evangelicals literally become hardwired to believe far-fetched statements.

I believe this is exactly the case. They are conditioned to believe an ancient myth about creation of the universe instead of general science. They are conditioned to believe in biological creationism instead of evolutionary biology. If the Bible says the Earth is 6000 years old, then that is accepted over the interdisciplinary knowledge concluding it is 4.5 billion years old.

Over and over on this list we have seen otherwise rational people dismiss science as a religion whenever it conflicts with an ancient text no matter how absurd or metaphorical that Biblical claim may be. What else do you call it than 'gullibility?'

I've asked myself why fundamentalists tend to support Trump. Why would they support someone who denies science, willfully lies about it and has told something over 14,000 public lies in three years? Because they are gullible as long as the speaker of lies claims to be a Christian and appears to support fundamentalist political positions. They are trained to believe lies instead of their own two eyes.