LYRICFLUENT
LYRICFLUENTDo Politics Make Us Irrational? Lyrics by Addison Anderson Addison Anderson
Below, you will find the lyrics for Do Politics Make Us Irrational? by Addison Anderson.
In 2013, a team of researchers held a math test
The exam was administered to over 1,100 American adults
And designed, in part, to test their ability to evaluate sets of data
Hidden among these math problems
Were two almost identical questions
Both problems used the same difficult data set
And each had one objectively correct answer
The first asked about the correlation
Between rashes and a new skin cream
The second asked about the correlation between crime rates
And gun control legislation
Participants with strong math skills
Were much more likely to get the first question correct
But despite being mathematically identical
The results for the second question looked totally different
Here, math skills weren't the best predictor
Of which participants answered correctly
Instead, another variable the researchers
Had been tracking came into play
Political identity
Participants whose political beliefs
Aligned with a correct interpretation of the data
Were far more likely to answer the problem right
Even the study's top mathematicians
Were 45% more likely to get the second question wrong
When the correct answer challenged their political beliefs
What is it about politics that inspires this kind of illogical error?
Can someone's political identity actually affect their ability
To process information?
The answer lies in a cognitive phenomenon
That has become increasingly visible in public life: partisanship
While it's often invoked in the context of politics
Partisanship is more broadly defined as a strong preference or bias
Towards any particular group or idea
Our political, ethnic, religious, and national identities
Are all different forms of partisanship
Of course, identifying with social groups
Is an essential and healthy part of human life
Our sense of self is defined not only by who we are as individuals
But also by the groups we belong to
As a result, we're strongly motivated to defend our group identities
Protecting both our sense of self and our social communities
But this becomes a problem when the group's beliefs
Are at odds with reality
Imagine watching your favorite sports team commit a serious foul
You know that's against the rules
But your fellow fans think it's totally acceptable
The tension between these two incompatible thoughts
Is called cognitive dissonance
And most people are driven to resolve this uncomfortable state of limbo
You might start to blame the referee
Complain that the other team started it
Or even convince yourself there was no foul in the first place
In a case like this
People are often more motivated to maintain a positive relationship
With their group than perceive the world accurately
This behavior is especially dangerous in politics
On an individual scale
Allegiance to a party allows people to create a political identity
And support policies they agree with
But partisan-based cognitive dissonance
Can lead people to reject evidence
That's inconsistent with the party line or discredits party leaders
And when entire groups of people revise
The facts in service of partisan beliefs
It can lead to policies that aren't grounded in truth or reason
This problem isn't new
Political identities have been around for centuries
But studies show that partisan polarization
Has increased dramatically in the last few decades
One theory explaining this increase
Is the trend towards clustering geographically
In like-minded communities
Another is the growing tendency to rely on partisan news
Or social media bubbles
These often act like echo chambers
Delivering news and ideas from people with similar views
Fortunately, cognitive scientists have uncovered some strategies
For resisting this distortion filter
One is to remember that you're probably more biased than you think
So when you encounter new information
Make a deliberate effort to push through your initial intuition
And evaluate it analytically
In your own groups, try to make fact-checking
And questioning assumptions
A valued part of the culture
Warning people that they might have been presented
With misinformation
Can also help
And when you're trying to persuade someone else
Affirming their values and framing the issue in their language
Can help make people more receptive
We still have a long way to go before
Solving the problem of partisanship
But hopefully, these tools can help keep us better informed
And capable of making evidence-based decisions
About our shared reality
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