Why Myths Persist

lottameez recommends an article in the Washington Post about recent research into the persistence of myths. In short: once a myth has been put out there (e.g., "Saddam Hussein plotted the 9/11 attacks"), denying it can paradoxically reinforce its staying power. Ignoring it doesn't work either — a claim that is unchallenged gains the ring of truth. Over time, "negation tags" fall out of memory: "Saddam didn't plan 9/11" becomes "Saddam planned 9/11." From the article: "The conventional response to myths and urban legends is to counter bad information with accurate information. But the new psychological studies show that denials and clarifications, for all their intuitive appeal, can paradoxically contribute to the resiliency of popular myths... The research is painting a broad new understanding of how the mind works. Contrary to the conventional notion that people absorb information in a deliberate manner, the studies show that the brain uses subconscious 'rules of thumb' that can bias it into thinking that false information is true. Clever manipulators can take advantage of this tendency."

Comments

Re:Biggest myths of all have been around for ages.

[FatAlb3rt]

Common sense, of course, dictating spontaneous explosions of matter that came from...nevermind that part...it doesn't matter. Hey, religion sucks!

Re:It's one of those persistent myths

[Phil-14]

Of course, I'd love to be proven wrong on this. If anyone can dig up a pre-war speech that accused Hussein of plotting 9/11, I'd love to be corrected.

Give up. Slashdot isn't for that sort of thing. Slashdot is a forum for dishonest "progressives" to repost their strawmen, day after day, and display that they don't even have the self-honesty to put it in the "politics" forum but to pretend they're doing SCIENCE! instead.

Why they think they can compete with the Democratic Underground or Daily Kos for this sort of propaganda I have no idea.

Re:Simple, Actually

[akzeac]

I doubt that anyone would argue that we have fucked it up quite badly over there, but Iraq was never sold as retribution for 9/11

I call bullshit

Vice President Dick Cheney, lashing out at Democrats for the first time since the felony conviction of Lewis "Scooter" Libby, his former top deputy, resumed his controversial claims Monday that the war in Iraq is the central front in the worldwide U.S. response to the Sept. 11 attacks.

Re:Opiate of the Masses

[MSZ]

To be corny- nobody's ever died from OD'ing on religion. (Except maybe that Jesus guy.)

You know, there is that story about some guys who, like, hijacked some planes and crashed them into some office building. Because "big daddy in the sky" called Allah told them they'll finally get laid if they do this job. There are also those guys that wear dynamite jackets and blow up busses in Israel. Must be because of the rising ticket prices since you say religion is so harmless.