Can You Trust Your Mind?
Do you believe your memory is correct?
Why does your memory of an event differ from someone else's who was there?
Unfortunately, we can't fully trust our own brain. It is arguably the most intricate system on the planet, but there is not one scientist that completely understands the workings of the brain. What we can all agree on is that it works in ways we aren't even aware of- such as the Sunk Cost Fallacy. The subconscious and super subconscious will have us do things and believe things that if our logical mind were in action would make us gasp in awe, (and sometimes shame!)
When you need to focus you turn down the volume. This is because we just cannot handle too many impluses all at once. Over time our brain-filter has learned what we deem important and deliberately ignore the stuff that is useless to us.
This is also why we can hear our name called in a crowded room. This phenomenon is called the Cocktail Party Effect and is an example of our brain filtering the noise from what is important to us.
Our memories are a subjective representation of how we perceived an event. So what your memory may tell you is absolute fact, may be remembered differently by another person because of their perception at the time. Also, did you know that your memories actually change? Each time you remember something it is effected by your current beliefs and emotions. And our memories can even be influenced by others, and even manipulated.
Here is an interesting experiment to try. Watch the short video before reading on:
What do you think?
Do you still believe you can trust your brain?
Selective Attention is one of the most popular mind tricks in the world of psychology. It is used by preachers and terrorists, magicians and corporations, lawyers and governments and interrogators, and even teachers and salesmen.
It's not only what we say, but also what we don't say.
Mental manipulation is used to influence memories all the time. Legal cases are one frightening example. In one study, people were influenced greatly just by how a question was phrased. The participants were shown videos of car accidents. One group was asked how fast the cars were traveling when they "smached" into each other. The other was asked the same question but with the word "hit" replacing "smashed".
Question everything, even your own cognitive competency :)
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The Sunk Cost Fallacy
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Brilliant. Insightful, well researched and fascinating.
The point about legal cases is frightening. In fact, when you look at all the ways that we can be manipulated and what the impact is on others, it's hard not to conclude that we need to completely overhaul the system. How is it justice, if those making the decisions cam be so easily blindsided?
Justice is one sided. The man with the best lawyer always wins...
Perhaps not quite always, but certainly the side with the money has a distinct advantage. There is a notorious rape trial happening in Ireland at the moment, and the poor (alleged) victim is being subjected to unbelievable psychological pressure with literally weeks of intense cross-examinations. How she is holding up is beyond me.
I am not sure what one would call it, but it doesn't feel like "justice" to me.
That sounds disgusting to me
Torture is more accurate...
It's revolting. I have followed the case, and they look as guilty as hell to me. The accuser has been unbelievably strong. I think that "reasonable doubt" will see them all walk.
This makes me truly sick. I feel for the poor woman. Nobody should have to go thru that victimization.
That's funny because the post before this one that i read was a Mandela effect. Do you think its just a memory trick?
Ah, the Mandella Effect. Now that is a fascinating study, and a deep wormhole when you start delving into it!
Hmm... Funny that you should bring that up... Considering what I am learning about how tricky the brain is, I am inclined to do more research into these.
At this point, without having considered and researched in depth, I am inclined to think it just might have something to do with it.
I think some of it might be memory tricks but a lot of them have something else going on. Too many people have different memories on some of them. It's really a deep rabbit hole to dive into for some nights you can't sleep lol
Oh it is. My youngest son discovered it a year ago. He came running to me, wanting me to watch a video on it. When he learned I was familiar, he was full of questions. He's been obsessed big time since!
It truly takes you into some dark territory when you allow yourself to think about it!
Wow. I knew that I wasn't seeing all the basketball passes - knew that I'd have a wrong number. But how could I have missed the gorilla??!! That's definitely Selective Attention. Makes me wonder what else in life is passing me by without my noticing because I'm concentrating too hard on something else.
Right under your nose, even! Then that leads me to wonder what I'm missing "new" because my mind is used to the "old"stuff.
It's almost scary.
My brain and I never got along. It always forgets too quickly but holds on to memories of movies and songs for the longest. Now I don't trust it at all. Who knows what kind of lies it might me feeding me...
In all seriousness this is quite unnerving. Psychology is such a powerful tool and is mostly misused.
I DID NOT SEE THE GORILLA!!! I am freaked out about this. this is most likely used as a weapon. I'm sure all wars in history were gained support through such manipulation by creating an enemy that didn't exist.
How did I not see the gorilla???
I agree, this can and has been used for manipulation probably for almost as long as intelligent man walked the Earth. And the sad thing is almost anybody can use it to their advantage, no matter what field their in...
That is scary. How can people protect themselves from such attacks though? Is it possible to defend against an invincible enemy?
Thank you for the upvote. Much appreciated.
I believe that just being aware of them is the biggest step you can take...
That requires a high level of cognitive control to do. With practice anything is possible.
I agree. However I also agree that they have some tricks up their sleeves that we cannot even comprehend! But by practicing awareness we can catch them at most of their games ;)
Lol. We are doomed! I forgot to follow you yesterday. Just fixed that mistake. I will be browsing around your work. You appear to be an interesting writer. Thank you for the responses.
Wow....such a wonderful and interesting topic for blogging....
We rely on our mind for everything — every thought, decision, opinion or idea you can conjure up is thought to come from the mind. But did you know your mind can’t always be trusted? Living inside your head is dangerous. This is where your saboteurs are triggered, and that is when your internal enemies come to light, habitual mind patterns creep in and negative self-talk takes over.
As Shirzad Chamine writes in his book, Positive Intelligence, your saboteurs manifested themselves when you were a child and shaped your outlook on the world. They were survival tools that you developed to protect and cope with physical and emotional forces and they remain into adulthood — even though you no longer need them. Your saboteurs are so ingrained in your mind that they shape all of the behaviors and thought patterns that work against you....
Wel done and perfect work my dear friend @arbitrarykitten mam...
Cheers~~
The saboteurs in this book you're referring to- are they similar to Ego in this article?
In a time where so much money and effort goes into deception and muddying trust in our perception and that of experts, this is a much needed piece to remind everyone to be mindful, be guarded.
The legal implications you brought up in this article are terrifying! and the mass marketing and politicizing shows just how powerful mental manipulation can be on a macro scale.
Thank you so much for sharing this, @arbitrarykitten, it's so important!
Yes! Fascinating yet terribly frightening!
If the changing memory effect doesn't have a name, I dub it the "fishing story effect"
Anyone who's been raised in Louisiana knows by the age of 6 that every adult is a gigantic liar with no working memory.
BTW I got 14 passes, and I did see the gorilla. That makes me the character in the movie who gets the close up when he's standing in a crowd and notices the alien mother-ship coming into our atmosphere before anyone else.
The Fishing Story Effect. I like it! So fitting ;)
You'll definitely by that guy :) Good news is you'll have the head start ;)
@arbitrarykitten Our Brain is tricky and has its faults, but it’s all you have to guide you through the world. Make sure to make the most of it while keeping it sane and healthy , This will lead to a better, simpler and more relaxed life .. If you want to be healthy, surround yourself with healthy things :)
You are what you eat, and you are who you hang around with. These are very true statement.
Wow, just hearing about the cocktail party effect. The brain is really a powerful part of our body and it has been said that we use only 5% of our brains and that if it increased, we would be smarter that the Super computer so I am not surprised at all at what the brain can do. It's indeed very powerful.
I think we use enough of our brain that is needed at this point in time- if that makes sense.
Well definitely we cant trust our mind. It can also experience memory overloading or overlapping which might be the cause of forgetting some events. It also has the capaci ty to create stories when disordered. But it has the capacity to bring back memories of the past which long been forgotten. The thing called dejavu!
Create stories? I haven't heard that one yet. Does it have a name?