Cognitive Bias

In a recent post Why Do Americans Revel in Deceit? in which I suggested that we Americans need to start asking ourselves why we want to be led by overtly deceitful people. I wrote: I for one would rather elect someone with no qualification other than basic honesty than a Dr. Oz or Donald Trump.

In response, a reader noted, “It is called cognitive bias, and we all have it.  We reject data points that fail to conform to our beliefs.”

Absolutely true.  Speaking strictly for myself, I would have a hell of a hard time letting go of my core beliefs about the world, e.g., that anthropogenic climate change is real, that Trump is a liar, etc.

If you want to call that “cognitive bias,” that’s fine. But you can’t be suggesting that this is in the same league as the MAGA people or the QAnon folks.