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VIDEO: The Biology of Why Facts Don’t Win Fights

This site is all about the facts.  We strive to provide only a core analysis of the facts and try very hard not to editorialize.  However, we know that humans crave sensationalism and we had always attributed outlandish claims and slanderous statements on other sites (Fox News, PITA, YoungTurks, Breitbart, …) as the root cause of their high traffic.

It was less of a surprise and more of a clarification that biology plays an important part arguments.  Put simply, facts do not win fights.

In the short video below, neuroscientist Tali Sharot explains that “Information is (not) the best way to convince people of truth… (because when) people disagree..  the brain was switch(es) off…”

Even worse, the more intellectual people among us are more skilled at “twisting data at will to make if conform to what they already believed”.  Psychologists call this “confirmation bias“.

The commonly held belief that the social divisions over gun control, the environment, religion, race, and immigration are the result of a lack of information by one side, is just wrong.

Yale University research shows that all people, educated and non-educated, rich and poor, smart and … less so, take ideological positions and will typically only move away from them when a “common motive” is found.  To convince someone to change their position, you must attack the flanks and not head on.  For example, you are more likely to convince someone that the environment should be protected because we all agree that waste is a bad thing or we all like that fact that that electric cars incur virtually no maintenance costs, rather than because of the fact that the polar ice caps are melting.

Facts still matter and science is still critical to further human success so here at www.PartisanIssues.com, we will keep pulling together the facts and leave the interpretation to you.

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