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We don't know the answers to everything in science therefore pink unicorns.


koti

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Not clear on all details of 9/11 - Bush did it. We don't know how exactly the universe begun nor we don't know its complexity in full detail therefore - God. And so on...

Is there a psychological mechanism or a set of psychological mechanisms which can be pinpointed and/or named to describe this "phenomena" ? (Besides being a moron)

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It behaves like an attempt to make sense of a pattern, connecting the dots, fitting the pieces of a puzzle together. Except you're missing pieces, so you extrapolate based on what you think makes sense (or you hear an explanation and force it to fit). Probably some sort of cognitive bias.

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Not clear on all details of 9/11 - Bush did it. We don't know how exactly the universe begun nor we don't know its complexity in full detail therefore - God. And so on...

 

Bush did it or god did it, essentially explains the phenomena.

 

Is there a psychological mechanism or a set of psychological mechanisms which can be pinpointed and/or named to describe this "phenomena" ? (Besides being a moron)

 

 

We all want to believe; so we all seek the most believable explanation, on the level of our understanding (from moron to genius) as Phi's post suggests.

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It behaves like an attempt to make sense of a pattern, connecting the dots, fitting the pieces of a puzzle together. Except you're missing pieces, so you extrapolate based on what you think makes sense (or you hear an explanation and force it to fit). Probably some sort of cognitive bias.

 

The severe differences in extrapolating in situations where pieces are missing is what I'm trying to understand.

Come to think of it (I wonder if this makes sense to anyone besides me) I just realized that within my friends there seems to be a correlation between how people are susceptible to maniac-like extrapolations of reality which is missing pieces and poker playing skills which is an ideal example of a system which is missing crucial pieces of information. What I just realized is that the people who I know who are susceptible to conspiracy theories and do a poor job on connecting the dots are also terrible poker players or they don't play at all because they don't like the game. It might be some sort of a cognitive bias like you propose or maybe a complex set of features of the mind and not a tangible "thing"

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It behaves like an attempt to make sense of a pattern, connecting the dots, fitting the pieces of a puzzle together. Except you're missing pieces, so you extrapolate based on what you think makes sense (or you hear an explanation and force it to fit). Probably some sort of cognitive bias.

The mechanism that causes us to interpret patterns in a way that are sensible to us is called pareidolia.

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The mechanism that causes us to interpret patterns in a way that are sensible to us is called pareidolia.

 

 

I think pareidolia is specific to images; apophenia is the more general term.

 

Also, "delusional thinking" ?

 

Bush did it or god did it, essentially explains the phenomena.

 

Except, the point is, they don't.

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The brain often interprets input based on "most likely", such as in the case of illusions where identical colored circles are surrounded by different sized black circles, making one of the colored circles appear bigger in comparison. Perhaps, in the case of someone with poor critical thinking skills and strong religious beliefs, the brain's interpretations are simply using what they know, and making it seem like goddidit is a "most likely" scenario.

 

That critical filter one learns to use in science is almost like another sense. If you've ever spent time with someone with bad hearing, you know the wealth of information that person misses out on. They have to maneuver in an environment where they didn't hear many of the directions. They often don't get the input of others, and so most problems are theirs to solve alone.

 

Perhaps this is one of the best arguments for good reasoning skills. It's like having extra sets of eyes and ears.

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The brain often interprets input based on "most likely", such as in the case of illusions where identical colored circles are surrounded by different sized black circles, making one of the colored circles appear bigger in comparison. Perhaps, in the case of someone with poor critical thinking skills and strong religious beliefs, the brain's interpretations are simply using what they know, and making it seem like goddidit is a "most likely" scenario.

 

That critical filter one learns to use in science is almost like another sense. If you've ever spent time with someone with bad hearing, you know the wealth of information that person misses out on. They have to maneuver in an environment where they didn't hear many of the directions. They often don't get the input of others, and so most problems are theirs to solve alone.

 

Perhaps this is one of the best arguments for good reasoning skills. It's like having extra sets of eyes and ears.

I don't think this is accurate Phi. I know many people who are not educated and come from no scientific background and have very good critical thinking skills. On the other hand I know PHD's who are the opposite. Im sure there is merrit to what you propose but surely its not a pinpoint (if there is any)

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Not clear on all details of 9/11 - Bush did it. We don't know how exactly the universe begun nor we don't know its complexity in full detail therefore - God. And so on...

Is there a psychological mechanism or a set of psychological mechanisms which can be pinpointed and/or named to describe this "phenomena" ? (Besides being a moron)

As far as conspiracy theories and belief in gods and Heaven and the Afterlife, evolutionary psychology has yielded some pretty compelling evidence as to why so many folks are indeed beset with belief in that stuff. That is to say, in things that are in no way proven and sometimes, like with God, don't even have a bit of evidence.

 

See....Our brain is obsessed with finding patterns in things. Seeking causes. Even when, alas, there are none. This pattern seeking practice served us well back in our hunted gathered days, and in the wilds of the African savannahs. But nowadays they can lead us astray, these seeming to be but really not cashed and patterns.

 

So...You get things like JFK. Our brain doesn't want to admit it can't find a cause of grand pattern. A lonely little man who was snubbed by his beloved Soviets is not supposd to be able to take down a beloved American icon. Thus...You get LBJ..Mafia..cia all formed a huge evil cabal.

 

This pattern seeking. So by product of when our frontal lobes, the neocortex, overdeveloped. All beginning with a genetic mutation that served us well after many generations so it was adopted in. Just as all of our traits gathered via selective inheritance are.

 

Same deal with God. Our big ol brains do not want to admit to a meaningless non teleological non aristotelean life. Or the eternal nothingness of death that waits for all of us. So.......Sky gods who care! Who listens to our prayers! And a heaven after life is extinguished!

 

Kinda funny in a way. My goodness, it never ceases to amaze how weak we are, how frail and needy compared to other animals.

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As far as conspiracy theories and belief in gods and Heaven and the Afterlife, evolutionary psychology has yielded some pretty compelling evidence as to why so many folks are indeed beset with belief in that stuff. That is to say, in things that are in no way proven and sometimes, like with God, don't even have a bit of evidence.

 

See....Our brain is obsessed with finding patterns in things. Seeking causes. Even when, alas, there are none. This pattern seeking practice served us well back in our hunted gathered days, and in the wilds of the African savannahs. But nowadays they can lead us astray, these seeming to be but really not cashed and patterns.

 

So...You get things like JFK. Our brain doesn't want to admit it can't find a cause of grand pattern. A lonely little man who was snubbed by his beloved Soviets is not supposd to be able to take down a beloved American icon. Thus...You get LBJ..Mafia..cia all formed a huge evil cabal.

 

This pattern seeking. So by product of when our frontal lobes, the neocortex, overdeveloped. All beginning with a genetic mutation that served us well after many generations so it was adopted in. Just as all of our traits gathered via selective inheritance are.

 

Same deal with God. Our big ol brains do not want to admit to a meaningless non teleological non aristotelean life. Or the eternal nothingness of death that waits for all of us. So.......Sky gods who care! Who listens to our prayers! And a heaven after life is extinguished!

 

Kinda funny in a way. My goodness, it never ceases to amaze how weak we are, how frail and needy compared to other animals.

<sarcasm>

I must admit that although Im not proud of it, I like this explanation. It implies that people who are not susceptible to pink unicorns are more evolved than the ones who are.</sarcasm>

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