http://mindhacks.com/2010/01/26/information-channelling/ Neuroscience and psychology news and views. Wed, 19 Jun 2013 17:54:06 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ http://mindhacks.com/2010/01/26/information-channelling/#comment-5117 Wed, 27 Jan 2010 20:41:23 +0000 http://mindhacksblog.wordpress.com/2010/01/26/information-channelling/#comment-5117 Yes rather depressing. Although knowledge of this process can help us avoid it in ourselves.
I recall reading in Robert Cialdini’s excellent book ‘Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion’ how not only do we search out and amplify information that reinforces what we already believe (and conmen are very good at spotting people’s prejudices and asserting them to build rapport) but that this process can work the other way.
Cialdini wrote about brainwashing during the Korean war of US soldiers who after having been made to state pro Chinese anti US pronouncements were then much more likely to believe them. People who are encouraged to role play a specific stance or belief are much more likely to favor that belief in future.
So we seek out conformational information but (many of us) can also come to believe what we are made to “seek out.”

]]>