The people that are less cognitively aware & have lower levels of honesty-humility are extremist side choosers. In fact, you have to work at not simply choosing sides, because #nepotism is an evolutionary adaptation.
#Religion? Choose a side! #Politics! Which side are you on? #War? Where do your loyalties lie? Wife or Husband arguing with a stranger? Whom do you side with? regardless of whose wrong or whose right?
"An irrational belief in irrational ideas usually leads to irrational results" - Futurist Jim Carroll
So let's try and figure out what's going on.
I took today's quote, fed it to ChatGPT, and got the picture above which I used for today;'s 'inspiration' image.
Look, in the last little while, I've looked into the Science of Stupidity, the Science of Mistakes, and The Science of Regret. So why not the Science of Irrational Decisions, which I learned is often referred to as "cognitive distortions." There's a lot to be found online to explain where we are. Charts and stuff that explain the many different types of irrational decisions aka cognitive distortions.
There's even a course or two to take on it.
It's a fascinating topic, and as expected, there's a lot of research to be found. It's a wonderful rabbit hole to plunge into because you will find such papers as
Overcoming Cognitive Distortions; How to Recognize and Challenge the Thinking Traps that Make You Miserable.
That tracks. People seem to be pretty miserable right now because of the cognitive distortions they've gone through that got us to where we are today.
And, as might expected, there is to be a leadership / personal growth book about it, with the title Predictably IrrationalL: The Hidden Forces that Shape our Decisions, released back in 2008. It probably could use an update!
So let's dig in, shall we? Let's talk about why folks make poor choices about big economic and political issues that end up hurting everyone.
Here's what the science tells us. When people vote against their economic interests or support harmful policies, it's rarely because they're stupid. Their brains just don't always work in their best interest when dealing with complex global systems. Why is that? Our brains take shortcuts. We use mental rules of thumb that help us make quick decisions. This works fine for everyday choices but fails miserably when considering trade policy, inflation control, voting, or healthcare systems.
What happens to people in this circumstance? They get emotional about political and economic issues. Fear, anger, and tribalism cloud their judgment. When someone supports tariffs that will ultimately hurt local businesses because they sound "tough on foreign competition" - that's emotional reasoning drowning out economic reality. It's cognitive dissonance, plain and simple.
The kicker is that the condition leads to great uncertainty, which fuels itself creating more uncertainty in a vicious spiral.
It's complex, folks, and there is no easy way out.
Buckle up.
Read the rest of the post.
**#Irrationality** **#Cognition** **#Distortion** **#Economics** **#Politics** **#Decisions** **#Tribalism** **#Uncertainty** **#Bias** **#Denialism**
Probably not a shocking opinion on #mastodon - A lot of the shit #trump and the #GOP are doing now was made much easier--in some cases possible--by Democrats refusing to push back on illegal/improper/immoral things #Obama and even #BillClinton did. We handed trump a turnkey fascist state partly by Democrats failing to hold Democrats to the values Democrats claim to hold. #Tribalism is not restricted to #republicans.
If you read only one long article this month, it should be "The Anti-Social Century" by The Atlantic. I planned to write about #tribalism for a long time, as it bothers me a lot and often puts me in trouble. The article describes the road to #polarization
https://peter.czanik.hu/posts/the-anti-social-century/
@georgetakei DNC-funded astroturfer Takei: “tRuSt Us. We ReFuSeD To EvEn AtTeMpT tO sToP tHe GeNoCiDe We’Re OpEnLy FuNdInG. wE wOn’T eVeN pReTeNd To SuPpOrT sInGlE pAyEr. VoTe FoR uS. wE’rE oPeNlY cOrRuPt BuT dO yOu LiKe TrUmP?”
Meanwhile, in our #TrumpVirus / #DeathSantis country of #tribalism
Yes, there IS a Gulf of America.
Cartoon by Mike Luckovich
A quotation from Roosevelt, Theodore:
«
In a republic, to be successful we must learn to combine intensity of conviction with a broad tolerance of difference of conviction. Wide differences of opinion in matters of religious, political, and social belief must exist if conscience and intellect alike ar…
»
Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/roosevelt-theodore/74201/
All Who ware wondering what #trump might bring us with a scientific mind
Please do read "The collapse of complex society". On how complex society is superior to #tribalism and has been invented a few times in human history.
It also has stopped to exist a number of times. And thats where it becomes interesting.
You can download it here for free https://github.com/danielmkarlsson/library/blob/master/Joseph%20A%20Tainter%20-%20The%20collapse%20of%20complex%20societies.pdf
Here is a good review https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/477.The_Collapse_of_Complex_Societies
Political polarization is manifest in IMDb film ratings. Usually, this pattern means the film is worth watching, and is probably pretty good.
"[W]hat is it about soccer and its fan culture that makes [violence] more likely to occur?"
https://theconversation.com/why-is-soccer-fandom-so-linked-to-violence-245143
#violence #prevention #sport #soccer #publichealth #tribalism @publichealth @psychology
I use #Bluesky to post about things I like, which you nerds on the #Fediverse shit your pants about every time I mention.
You should feel bad about this; the culture you have built is intolerant, but you won't because you are a tribalist and you're happy to silence people who disagree with you.
@mralancooper indeed, you’re right in practical terms.
I do know first hand that the resentment from a populist’s follower is much stronger than the self preservation drive. They feel that nothing can happen to them because the leader’s power emerges from them.
#cooperation #tribalism
Why one psychologist believes the tribal instincts that divide us can be leveraged to help bring us together
https://youarenotsosmart.com/2024/10/15/yanss-298-why-one-psychologist-believes-the-tribal-instincts-that-divide-us-can-be-leveraged-to-help-bring-us-together/
More from the shape-shifting creature of the couch cats… "Story time time"
Cartoon by Clay Jones 
#QuidProQuo in the Story-telling license to lie, for the sake of … sake of… ?
Negating #truth & upping confusion & hate, so it would seem.
#GQP #TrumpVirus #VanceVirus versus #reality #truth #rationality #democracy VERSUS #cats #couches #cult #disinformation #distraction #Project2025 #insanity #tribalism #hate
Read Adam Kuper's "The Invention of Primitive Society: Transformations of an Illusion" - When A. R. Radcliffe-Brown wrote that “social anthropology. . . [is] the comparative theoretical study of forms of social life amongst primitive peoples” (1952:4), he could invoke the authority of over a century of anthropological research dedicated examining the kinship institutions and marriage patterns of primitive societies. Adam Kuper’s The Invention of Primitive Society: Transformations of an Illusion (1988) is an historical account of how the idea of primitive society was conjured first in the minds of Maine, Tylor and Morgan, and remained at the forefront of anthropological research for over a century. Kuper’s position is that primitive society is an illusion, “something which does not and has never existed,” yet persisted in the minds of anthropologists because it was “good to think with” (1988:8-9). Kuper seeks to account not only for the genesis, but the persistence of the idea of primitive society. How did the idea of primitive society, often at odds with ethnographic data and the basic tenants of evolutionary theory, manage to persist for so long? To answer this question, Kuper engages the analytical tools offered by the history of science, as well as his own discipline, anthropology. Kuper draws on the work of I. Bernard Cohen, who argued that fields of scientific inquiry tend to undergo subtle and prolonged transformations, rather that wholesale paradigm shifts, as Thomas Kuhn had argued. To study such transformations, Kuper draws on Lévi-Strauss’ research on the transmission of myth. Myth, argued Lévi-Strauss, was a reflection of the innate cognitive structures of the human mind. The logic underlying primitive myth and modern scientific thought were, according to Lévi-Strauss, essentially the same: “the kind of logic which is used by mythical thought is as rigorous as that of modern science, and that the difference lies not in the quality of the intellectual process, but in the nature of the things to which it is applied” (1955:444). Kuper’s study of primitive society proceed in essentially that same way that Lévi-Strauss argued that a study of myth should proceed: the different models of primitive society advanced throughout the history of anthropological thought all represent transformations of a single structure – the constituent elements must be identified and their arrangement into new forms traced through time. Kuper’s book proceeds chronologically, and is divided into two sections. The first deals with what might called the classical period, and is concerned with the development of the idea of primitive society in the writings of Maine and Morgan, and the modification of the model by their later contemporaries. The second section traces the transformation of primitive society as conceived by academic anthropologists in the twentieth century. In the modern period, Kuper briefly traces how the idea of primitive society was received by Boas and his students in America before turning to the practical application of the theory in Australia and Africa by British social anthropologists. The dichotomy between kinship social organization and the territorially-based organization of the modern state, as well as a concern with the relationship between the nuclear family and the tribe unite Kuper’s analysis of the classical and modern conceptions of primitive society.
Map of the Bedouin tribes in 1908.
#Humor
"#Anarchists Makes It 3 Weeks into New Collectivist Compound Before Realizing They Accidentally Joined Amish Village" 
Moral" #Tribalism is NOT necessarily #Anarchism.
The problem with #Mastodon is that there is no #algorithm; so you can't get anyone to see your posts (which is the point of #socialMedia) unless you spam #hashtags. This will get you #engagement, but only if you say things that the #hashtag's #followers agree with completely; otherwise all you get is #toxic #sealioning from #tribalists.
Colonial biases are implicit in terms like "tribalism" (presented as a negative) and "pioneer" (presented as a positive). I also get the ick when people talk about "branding." Y'all know where that concept comes from, don't you? Literally burning a mark of ownership into the skin of another human or an animal to make a permanent scar. #words #Colonialism #tribalism #branding #pioneer #slavery
