In the digital age, information is more plentiful than ever, but parsing truth from the abundance of competing claims can be daunting. Whether the subject is Ebola, vaccines or climate change, speculation and conspiracy theories compete with science for the public’s trust. Our guide to rational thinking is here to help. In the following pages, you’ll learn tools to identify the hallmarks of irrational thinking, evaluate evidence, recognize your own biases and develop strategies to transform shouting matches into meaningful discussions.
We’re programmed for irrational thought.
Irrational thinking stems from cognitive biases that strike us all. “People don’t think like scientists; they think like lawyers. They hold the belief they want to believe and then they recruit anything they can to support it,” says Peter Ditto, a psychologist who studies judgment and decision-making at the University of California, Irvine. Motivated reasoning — our tendency to filter facts to support our ...
