Progress-focused

(Originally published October 22, 2024) In today’s political landscape, we increasingly see irrationality and cheating being employed as strategies to gain and maintain power. This phenomenon not only undermines the foundations of a healthy democracy but also opens the door for leaders who are willing to sacrifice ethics and integrity for personal gain.  What do I mean by irrationality and cheating? Irrationality and cheating involve tactics such as lying, using illogical reasoning, making unfounded claims, and never admitting mistakes or falsehoods. Politicians guilty of this frame all their actions as successes, regardless of reality. By employing these strategies, they manipulate public debate and weaken voters' ability to make informed decisions. The rhetorical advantage for politicians Politicians using irrationality and dishonest tactics can benefit in several ways: Attracting attention : Shocking and inaccurate statements generate media attention, keeping these politicians c...

How can it be that we sometimes keep holding on to certain beliefs of which we could know, and perhaps deep inside do know, that they are not true? Think about things like magical thinking, superstition and views which logically can't be true and things we have proven to be untrue? In a new article, Believing What We Do Not Believe: Acquiescence to Superstitious Beliefs and Other Powerful Intuitions , Jane Risen looks at this question from the perspective of dual process models such as Kahneman's model distinguishing system 1 and 2 thinking.