Back in early 2017, Maria Konnikova wrote a piece that explained what happens to the brain when it has to incessantly process lies. She cited research that shows that the brain has to first accept a lie as true, only to analyze it, then refute it. Over time, the brain tires of that process and slowly starts to accept the lies as true. She refers to a fascinating, if disheartening, 2015 study, that showed that if people repeated the phrase “The Atlantic Ocean is the largest ocean on Earth” enough times, the Atlantic Ocean started to seem like the largest ocean on Earth.
We know that fake news headlines, Drumpf B.S. and NRA skewed logic does in fact get cognitive traction even among those of us not predisposed to accept those falsehoods. Yet, those viewers who watch satire and other types of ironic comedy do not lose the ability to detect the ways that these comedians use creative deception to be funny. While more research is needed to fully make the case, there seem to be two main reasons why satire viewers may be better at detecting falsehoods than those who don’t consume this type of humor.
Satire viewers enjoy using their reflective cognitive abilities, which are effortful, typically deliberative and require working memory, over intuitive cognitive abilities, which don’t require higher order cognition... The second part of the story is that processing humor cognitively involves pleasure. There is a cognitive reward for processing a joke that leads to laughter or amusement. Jokes engage both analytical and affective cognitive processes. Watching Samantha Bee or Colbert or Oliver dissect falsehoods is both analytically engaging and fun. The element of fun may be part of the reason why we keep getting the joke but can get worn down by incessant lies. When lies are processed through comedy, we don’t lose the ability to detect them as false.
And that may well be why these comedians keep being attacked as a danger to the NRA, the Drumpf agenda and right-wing extremism. Each time a comedian ironically makes fun of the right-wing mindset, they help engage our analytical thinking in a fun way.
Here's an idea for a psychological study : take a group of NRA members or other assorted lunatics and stick 'em down to watch Colbert et al. over a protracted period. Compensate them for their trouble. Determine if this makes them more or less able to engage in correct analytic reasoning and/or bullshitting*, or if it just causes the backfire effect and makes them cry their little snowflake hearts out. Does watching satire cause increased reasoning, or is it just because people who like analytical thought watch shows that require analytical thought anyway ? Or is this complete bollocks ? Numbers required.
* Just as a good liar must first understand the truth, so a persuasive bullshitter must understand rhetoric - which requires analytic reasoning.
https://www.salon.com/2018/03/17/the-science-of-satire-and-lies-watching-colbert-can-fight-right-wing-brain-rot/
The irony in this is the very notion that lies are something the Right is guilty of, when the Democrats are currently setting the standards for mega-lies. Politics is a cavalcade of lies from both sides to push forward elite objectives. Salon is a reliable servant to that cash cow.
ReplyDeleteBill Stender In general I too am wary of Salon as a news source (I was intrigued that one of the alternatives to disabling adblock is to allow Salon to use my PC to mine cryptocurrencies !), but this article struck me as basically correct.
ReplyDeleteCould you give some examples of which lies you think the left is telling ? It seems to me that while no political party, without exception, has any great claim to sincerity or accuracy, the vast bulk of the problem is found on the right.
Rhys Taylor To preface; i hail from the Left, but the actual Left, not the Democratic centralist mostly right party we have here. But my heart is on this side and I used to think that the Right was the source of most of the bullshit as well but have long abandoned that since Clinton and Obama shattered any hope for honesty and progress...but on to some of the lies du jure coming from what passes as the Left in the USA;
ReplyDelete1. Russia hacked the DNC and Podesta's emails and released them to the public to sway the election. (Has been shown to be completely fabricated.)
2. The Steele dossier was legit. (rather than bought and paid for by the DNC and their contractors and used to obtain illegal wiretap authority, which was used to spy on the opposition)
3. Russia is working hard to influence the election here and abroad. (not a shred of any proof despite over a year of effort)
4. Hillary's private server was perfectly innocent. (nope, fully conscious and criminal)
5. Syria's Assad is a butcher and intervention is needed.
6. Iran is a menace and intervention is needed.
7. Russia has done alleged things and more sanctions are needed
and a few of the long-standing lies that have abrogated the foundation of the Left:
8. Health care for all is just not feasible.
9. Minimum wage hike is just not feasible
10. The War on Terror is legitimate and trillions of dollars are monies well spent
Just off the top of my head. I'm probably more hard on the "Left" bc of the disappointment, but also bc they lie so insidiously. The Right doesnt so much lie as just say horrible shit right to your face. I prefer honest assholes than two-faced assholes like Obama and Clinton (Mr and Mrs) are...and the rest of the Democratic leadership. (sure, there's a few exceptions, on both sides.)