New research suggests that when you test people in isolation, you get different results. When it comes to the cognitive reflection test, reasoning alone, 83% of people who have taken this test under laboratory conditions answer at least one of the problems incorrectly. In groups of three or more, usually the entire group will change their minds from the wrong answer to the right answer. That's because at least one member will see the correct answer, and the resulting debate will lead those who are wrong, which is usually most people, to change their minds.
Deliberation. Debate. Conversation. Though it can feel like that’s what we are doing online as we trade arguments back and forth, most of the places where we currently gather make it much easier to produce arguments in isolation rather than evaluate them together in groups. The latest research suggests we will need much more of the latter if we hope to create a new, modern, functioning marketplace of ideas. In this episode, psychologist Tom Stafford takes us through his research into how to do just that.
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