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In Reply to: Re: Mistakes Were Made (but not by me) posted by JWH on September 21, 2008 at 21:57:35:
There's something called "confirmation bias" where we set things up so that we only listen to/receive information that confirms a position we already hold.
The book gives the example of criminal interrogation. Some detectives say, "We only use interrogation techniques to get a confession if the person is guilty." But how does the dective know the person is guilty? "Because they will confess to the crime. Innocent people won't confess." That's confirmation bias.
However, there's plenty of evidence to show that it's possible to coerce a confession from an innocent person. Imagine being isolated for hours without sleep and being grilled by an imposing authority figure. The detectives say, "We found your blood on the victim." This is actually a lie, but if you're unware that interrogators are allowed to lie in pursuit of a confession, you are caught in a place of cognitive dissonance. How could my blood be on the victim? But the authorities say it is. Why would they lie about such a thing? Maybe I had a blackout. Maybe I did do something aweful...I don't know....I don't think so...could it be true?
To resolve the cognitive dissonance in such a case, a person may acquiesce to what they're being asked to do--confess something that is not true. They almost always recant after a good night's sleep!
This is also, I think, how cultic indoctrination works. People are isolated and bombarded with information by authority figures. This is also what cult deprogrammers do. In both cases, they set up a situation of cognitive dissonance...such that the easiest way to resolve the conflict is to acquiesce to the demands of the external authority who's controlling the information and the environment.
