“Are We Hard-Wired to Doubt Science?” by Felicity Barringer
This article dotes upon the issue of science and its validity. Barringer discusses how humans are more likely to believe in scientific evidence that is parallel to their own belief systems, so essentially, they chose what they want to believe on an emotional basis. The article discusses the issues we encounter when dealing with perception, for even scientific evidence is perceived subjectively. There is neurological evidence for this claim, for information is processed by the amygdala rather than the cortex. The amygdala is the origination of emotions such as fear, and the cortex is the area of reason. This shows how humans are more reliant on emotion and instinct rather than reason. The article continues to discuss how these emotion based perceptive skills may be influenced by one’s social classification of society, another factor that can impact cognitive skills.
Some knowledge issues that were brought up by this article were:
To what extent do we rely on emotion rather than logic?
How strong of an influence do you feel social classifications and prejudices have an impact on our beliefs?
How often do we rely on our ‘gut feeling’ rather than the logical explanation or reasoning?
Judging by this article, it is evident that our human emotions control our actions and beliefs. As the article mentions, humans tend to believe in the notion that there is something out there to get them, and will believe these theories regardless of any scientific evidence of the contrary. Humans will believe theories as crazy as 'The consumption of popcorn leads to the degeneration of brain cells', without any substantial scientific evidence. This exemplifies the neurological explanation, being that the amygdala is the one that processes information first. Although humans claim to be fairly logical creatures, it seems as though our primitive ancestors relied more on logic and reasoning than we do now. If one is to think about all the descisions they have made based on emotion versus the amount of descisions based on logic, the results would be quite shocking. Most of the time, humans are unable to make purely logical descisions or make purely objective judgments. Animals on the other hand, seem to respond more to logical reasoning and scientific progression. The mating processes of animals are much more simplistic than that of humans, for there is no complicated emotional baggage involved. Animals mate simply to reproduce and carry on their species. Humans however, are caught up with ‘falling in love’ and ‘finding one’s soul mate’. Such desires lead to the human reliance on emotions for decision-making.
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