Navigating Information Bias and Confirmation

Can facts change someone’s mind? Most times, this approach is a dead end, especially when we try to convince those with top-notch analytical skills. In fact, neuroscience shows that analytical people will tend to use data to find fault with facts they don’t like. If we want to bring someone closer to our way of thinking, Tali Sharot suggests another way in her book, The Influential Mind: What the Brain Reveals about our Power to Change Others. Tali is founder and director of the Affective Brain Lab at University College London and an associate professor of cognitive neuroscience. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, and the BBC. Tali is also author of the book, The Optimism Bias. In this interview we discuss: Why we tend to seek out information that confirms what we already believe Our attraction to information associated with people who think like us How bias compounds as we filter for information that aligns with, and people who agree with, our beliefs How we will avoid getting advice from experts - on something completely unrelated to politics - if they are not aligned with our political beliefs Why people with strong math and analytical skills can become even more entrenched in their beliefs on a topic How our brains tend to encode information from people who agree with us and how that impacts the decisions we make Why starting a conversation by focusing on an area of agreement can help us view one another as more similar than originally thought and help us listen more fully to a different perspective How our brains can synchronize when we listen to an emotional, compelling speech and how that helps us predict what the speaker may say How feelings of happiness, sadness, stress, and so on, can be emotionally contagious for others in a family, group or organization How social media serves as the amygdala of the internet, rousing us emotionally in ways associated with how the amygdala works How immediate, positive feedback, associated with progress and situated in a social setting, can improve performance The fact that our phobias arise from areas of our life we cannot control How our brains view choice as a reward Episode Links Tali Sharot @affectivebrain Affective Brain Lab Dan Kahan Mentalization How Emotions are Made by Lisa Feldman Barrett Susan Cain Uri Hasson Weizmann Institute of Science Hospital Hand Hygiene Project Discovery health insurance If you enjoy the podcast, please rate and review it on iTunes - your ratings make all the difference. For automatic delivery of new episodes, be sure to subscribe. As always, thanks for listening!