Why Do We Disagree About the Facts?

Why Do We Disagree ABOUT THE FACTS?

Being an informed voter who understands the issues is the responsibility of all citizens. Thanks to the internet and other sources, we have more facts at our fingertips than we could ever hope to take in. Yet, we don’t all have the same facts. This has led to perceptions and feelings on all sides about the people whose facts don’t agree with ours. It is common to feel that the “others” are uninformed, misinformed, ignorant and/or brainwashed.

Why do we think that our facts are the only ones, or the right ones, or provide a complete picture of the issues we care about? In this conversation we will look at a variety of reasons for why we espouse different facts. Our focus will be on scientifically documented biases including, but not limited to:

Confirmation bias
Cognitive dissonance
Dunning-Kruger effect
In-group favoritism
Implicit bias
Affinity bias
Don’t know what those are? Here are some resources to check out before the meeting:

Cognitive Dissonance Confirmation Bias (https://youtu.be/mJagTkoVmHo)
Why we believe alternative facts (https://www.apa.org/monitor/2017/05/alternative-facts)
Why people are wired to believe what they want to believe (https://medium.com/trust-media-and-democracy/why-people-are-wired-to-believe-what-they-want-to-believe-4d9b4e161eb5
4 factors that influence people’s attitudes toward facts — (https://www.poynter.org/educators-students/2017/4-factors-that-influence-peoples-attitudes-toward-facts/)
The Differences Between Data, Information and Knowledge
(http://www.infogineering.net/data-information-knowledge.htm)
Join the Crossing Party Lines discussion and have a voice in our Nation’s Conversation! People of all views are welcomed, appreciated, and heard.

Sign up here or at a chapter near you:

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