The Knowledge Illusion part 16

This post is on the book The Knowledge Illusion by Steven Sloman (cognitive scientist and professor at Brown University) and Phillip Fernbach (cognitive scientist and professor of marketing at Colorado's Leeds School of business).

This post is the sixteenth in a series of sixteen that address The Knowledge Illusion and unless otherwise noted all quotes are from The Knowledge Illusion. I recommend reading all sixteen posts in order.

I have written on numerous other books on psychology, social psychology, critical thinking, cognitive dissonance theory and related topics already but discovered this one and feel it plays a complimentary and very needed role. It helps to explain a huge number of "hows" and "whys" regarding the other subjects I mentioned, all of the subjects.

In the final chapter, Conclusion: Appraising Ignorance and Illusion, the authors wrap it all up.

 "When academics encounter a new idea that doesn't conform to their preconceptions, there's often a sequence of three reactions: first dismiss, then reject, and finally declare it obvious. The initial reaction to an idea that challenges an academic's world view is to ignore it: Assume it's not worthy of one's time and consideration. If that doesn't work, if community pressure forces the idea to be confronted, academics come up with reasons to reject it. Academics are terrific at justifying their opposition to an idea. Finally, if the idea is just too good to reject, if the idea hangs on in the community, academics find reasons to claim they knew it all along because it's self-evident."
(Page 255)

The authors hope readers will jump to the conclusion that these ideas are self-evident. I hope readers will consider the evidence for and against the ideas and if they see them as well-established by evidence then they will accept them.

They feel these ideas when properly explained come across as obvious but having needed a little attention to point them out.

 "Ignorance is not bliss, but it doesn't have to be misery. For humans, ignorance is inevitable: It's our natural state. There's too much complexity in the world for any individual to master. Ignorance can be frustrating, but the problem is not ignorance per se. It's the trouble we get into by not recognizing it."
(Page 257)

The authors discuss the work of David Dunning, famous for the Dunning-Kruger effect. He has studied people for many years and discovered that the people who know the least about a subject tend to rate their skills the highest. He has studied expertise, having skills and knowledge regarding a topic and ignorance meaning that you have neither.

One can have skills, like as a driver or pilot or hockey player or one can have knowledge like a person who has seen pilots and drivers perform and hockey players and may even know how to evaluate or train them. But different skills bring different kinds of expertise. A person who would not be a good hockey player may be able to train others very well and a person who can play extremely well may not be able to train others. An ignorant person knows less than either of the others.

Dunning found that those who lack skills also lack the knowledge to know what they are missing.

 "The unskilled just don't know what they don't know. And, according to Dunning, it matters because all us are unskilled in most domains of our lives:

Our ignorance, in general, shapes our lives in ways we do not know about. Put simply, people tend to do what they know and fail to do that which they have no conception of. In that way, ignorance profoundly channels the course we take in life...People fail to reach their potential as professionals, lovers, parents, and people simply because they are not aware of the possible." ( Page 258)

I want to point out something important. Dunning-Kruger effect reflects IGNORANCE , not STUPIDITY. People often have a tendency to dismiss others with different religious and political beliefs and assume they are stupid. In reality we are all ignorant and far more likely to get things wrong but think we have them all figured out when we remain ignorant. That doesn't mean we are stupid or that people with knowledge are more intelligent. It doesn't work that way.

Sometimes ignorance doesn't make a problem as not knowing about something trivial just may mean we don't think or worry about it.

 "But ignorance has costs. If we don't know about birth control, then we don't use it. If we remain ignorant about the horrors that are going on next door, we won't do what's necessary to stop them. And if we are ignorant about the dangerous things our children are getting into, disaster can follow." (Page 259)

The authors advise knowing what we as individuals don't know, where we are ignorant and respect the knowledge of others. They also pointed out the deaths from murder and suicide associated with Jim Jones and the Heaven's Gate cult. 909 people died in Jonestown and 39 with Heaven's Gate and of course the Branch Davidian cult had leader David Koresh and 39 other people die in a tragic fire.  They point out that communities can have an insidious effect on what people believe and their actions and decisions.

 "So we're not championing faith in whatever a community believes or whatever a credentialed expert says. Along with faith must come a healthy dose of skepticism and a keen eye for charlatans and those who are confidently wrong. When your community gives you bad advice, it's your responsibility to not take it. Nazi prison guards are not excused because they were following orders, and terrorists are certainty not excused because they were members of an ideological community."
(Page 260)

The authors point out that we can chose communities that strive to tell the truth and that most people try to be honest most of the time, which makes community even possible in the first place.

"We live with the illusion that we understand things better than we do. Is illusion something we necessarily need to dispel? Should we always strive to have beliefs and goals that are as realistic as possible? This is the choice that confronts Neo, Keanu Reeves's character in the film The Matrix: take the red pill and live in the real world or take the blue pill and maintain the comfort of illusion. If he chooses the red pill, he'll have to face the world as it is, including the pain, sorrow, and robot overlords that accompany reality. If he chooses the blue pill, he'll return to the collective delusion of human existence.

By avoiding illusion, you're more likely to be accurate. You'll know what you know and what you don't know, and this can only help you achieve goals. You won't take on projects that are beyond you and you won't disappoint others. You'll be better positioned deliver on your promises. " (Page 261)

Now, this is especially poignant for me because again I reflect on my ignorance about my ignorance and my illusion of knowledge that I foolishly stuck with. I was not educated or prepared for the deception and fraud in the Scientology cult, a closed community of deluded individuals deluding others.

I didn't know what I knew and didn't know and so got in way over my head right from the start. I made a promise to evaluate Scientology, figure out if it was a scam or on the up and up, to avoid being fooled and to respond based on my findings. I was not skilled or knowledgeable enough to fulfill my promises and paid a terrible price for my decisions, decisions made from profound ignorance.

I didn't understand rhetoric, psychology, hypnosis, critical thinking, logical fallacies and dozens of subjects that could have made it obvious to me that Scientology is not a honest and legitimate organization. The general ignorance I had on so many things left me vulnerable.

The authors pointed out that we use illusions all the time for happiness. We think of fictional stories and fantasies and novels and television shows and movies and are entertained by them and get joy thinking about them. But a crucial difference is we know those things are not real, and can engage or disengage from them on that basis.

I think it is unfortunately a fact of life that all too often unscrupulous individuals and groups can use our tendencies to think in terms of stories we find appealing and our ignorance about out ignorance together to persuade us with deceptive tactics. Cults rely on this as do criminals and abusers and unethical politicians.

But I sincerely hope we can learn about out weaknesses in these areas and reduce the opportunities for exploitation. And learn how to evaluate experts and their claims and to understand the roles we all play in the community of knowledge together.