Tuesday, 18 December 2007

Cognitive conservatism

cognitive-conservatism
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"Beliefs, once acquired, have a kind of inertia in that there is a preference to alter them as little as possible. There is a tendency to reject evidence or ideas that are inconsistent with current beliefs, particularly if they undermine central beliefs."

-Lewis Wolpert, 'Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast' (p85)

10 comments:

soulbrush said...

this is so ridiculously negative, it's either laughable or pathetic!

Steve said...

Laughetic?

Debra Kay said...

Very interesting, but you are mapping out a two way flow of belief, each feeding off the other...like an electrical circuit. Break the circuit and remove the power flow. Reroute the flow into something more positive. Doesn't matter if half the original circuit (your brother) is transformed, as long as you are.

And for that matter, it doesn't matter if anyone else is happy with your new configuration, as long as you are. The laws of Debism say that the others will learn to live with it if you can.

soulbrush said...

no, pathable!

Anonymous said...

I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge -- myth is more potent than history -- dreams are more powerful than facts -- hope always triumphs over experience -- laughter is the cure for grief -- love is stronger than death.

ElizT said...

It has that depressing ring of truth...

Unknown said...

I believe Wolpert is a miserable sod

Steve said...

That's why he resides in Prozacville!

Mim said...

I like the laws of Debism

Steve said...

Yeah, she's got something good going there.