Explanation of Worldview
Last updated 13-Sep-2024
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Explanation: Why is half the
country is Republicans and the other half Democrats?
Here is my explanation as to what is happening and why half the country is Republicans and the other half Democrats.
It is a combination of:
(a) a person’s assumptions
(b) confirmation bias and
(c) cognitive dissonance.
Recall that ‘Confirmation Bias’ is when people are bias look for facts that agree with their preconceived notions. For example, if you start with the assumption that someone is nice, you can find examples where they are nice to back up that ‘hypothesis’.
And recall that ‘Cognitive Dissonance’ is the idea that people can’t hold contradictory ideas in their heads at the same time. For example, if you do someone a favor, such as getting them a glass of water, you might be inclined to think ‘I just gave them a glass of water and I don’t give glasses of water to jerks or people I don’t like, therefore that person must be a nice person or else why did I just give them a glass of water?
In other words, Confirmation Bias is searching only or things that agree with your preconceived notions, i.e., your assumptions and Cognitive Dissonance is ignoring the items that you do become aware of that disagree with your preconceived notions.
Here is how it works:
Suppose that I assume that Republicans are ‘good’ and Democrats are ‘bad’. That is the starting assumption.
Let’s see how I interpret new data, new facts as they come in.
Suppose a Democrat does something bad. That is easy for me. I already have assumed that they are bad, so this helps confirm/helps validate my original assumption.
Suppose a Democrat does something good. I say these three things and I can always say at least one or more of these three things:
1) They are cynically doing it just to get elected/reelected.
2) If it is so good, why didn’t they do it sooner? This is a failsafe criticism. If there is nothing else you can find wrong with it, this one always works.
3) It is good, but Trump would do it better.
Example: No Taxes on Tips
1) I’ll never forgive Kamala for cynically proposing that just to get elected. I know her mind and her intent is bad.
2) Why didn’t she do it sooner? She is at fault for waiting.
3) Trump will do it better. She only promised to ‘fight’ for it. Trump will actually do it.
For Confirmation Bias, a Democrat will say, given that they start with the assumption that Trump is bad, that ”I saw that 51 CIA officials said the Hunter Biden Laptop” is probably Russian Disinformation. That matches my preconceived notions, so I am not going to try to find evidence that it is false.
For Cogitative Dissonance, a Democrat will say, “yes, I know Kalama had an affair with a married man, but since I am assuming that she is a good person, there must have been a good reason and, you know, it is just a part of her overall character, so I am voting for her anyway.
The good news is that many Democrats will get new bits of information over time that will eventually cause them to rethink their assumptions. Like a seesaw where little things accumulate on one side that makes the seesaw eventually ‘tip’ over. It becomes easier to interpret the historical facts and the new facts coming in with the new assumption.
More example: I start with the assumption that Trump is the good guy. There are many trials/lawsuits against him, such as the case in New York. Since I know (assume) Trump is the good guy, I think those trials are ‘lawfare’ and basically a miscarriage of justice. But a Democrat reacts to the exact same set of facts, i.e., trial, jury finds guilty, and because they assumed from the start that Trump was the bad guy, their confirmation bias kicks in.
So it is both facts and assumptions that determine peoples’ views. And it is easy to see how, like with a coin toss, about half of the people might assume one way, i.e., Trump is good, and the other half would start with the assumption the other way.
Based on this, I do believe you can’t force people to change their minds or see the light. Instead, you just have to love them, be patient, tolerant and understanding until they come around in their own good time.