When presented with evidence that contradicts something you previously held to be true, you instantly enter a state of cognitive dissonance.
**Cognitive dissonance is a theory of human motivation that asserts that it is psychologically uncomfortable to hold contradictory cognitions. The theory is that dissonance, being unpleasant, motivates a person to change his cognition, attitude, or behavior.
Next up, you go through a process of deciding if the evidence warrants a change of position on the subject and if the evidence is strong enough, you would be wise to change your position. However, if the contradictory evidence challenges something in which you have vested your entire life’s meaning then, most likely, you will be subjected to cognitive bias.
**A cognitive bias is a mistake in reasoning, evaluating, remembering, or other cognitive process, often occurring as a result of holding onto one’s preferences and beliefs regardless of contrary information.
And finally, if you have so thoroughly convinced yourself that the evidence presented is not personally acceptable to you, then you unwisely end up in the arena of confirmation bias.
**Confirmation bias refers to a type of selective thinking whereby one tends to notice and to look for what confirms one’s beliefs, and to ignore, not look for, or undervalue the relevance of what contradicts one’s beliefs.
So the question is this: will you choose to grow as a human being and become more intelligent and learn as much as you can in your lifetime, never being afraid to admit when you are wrong, thus becoming a fountain of knowledge from which future generations can draw understanding thereby leaving this world in a better condition than the one it was in when you entered it?
As Isaac Asimov stated, “The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds the most discoveries, is not “Eureka!” (I found it!) but ‘That’s funny…’”
Choose wisely. 🙂
Jacob Frasier 