The Limit of Reason
Studies are regularly done to understand the minds of individuals. All the knowledge gathered on brain mechanics and functions can be attributed to studies. Although what a person may know about a subject or object is a fact, facts cannot always be proven to be true in the mind of a person. Sometimes people acquire what they think is a fact and refuse to admit it is a fallacy. For example, researchers get a group of students that have opposing views on capital punishment. Half of the group was in favor of it, the other half opposing. The students were told to respond to two studies, one of which supported the deterrence argument, and the other opposing it. Both studies were fake, but the group in support of capital punishment …show more content…
In Elizabeth Kolbert’s article, “Why Facts Don’t Change Our Minds,” from the February 27th, 2017 issue of The New Yorker, she successfully uses logos to justify why, even after learning a statistical fact, people will not listen to reason and will stay …show more content…
She begins her article by explaining a study done by researchers at Stanford in 1975. The study involved a group of students that had to predict which suicide note, out of a pair, was a genuine note from the Coroner's Office, or completely made up. Some students felt very confident in their predictions, and were told that they were correct about 24/25 times. Others were not feeling so great on what they were thinking and were told that they only got about 10/25 correct. Kolbert explains that the scores that the students were given were actually fictitious, and all of the students ended up having statistically similar scores. The second part of the study was to reveal to the students their actual scores, and explain that the real purpose of the study was to “gauge their responses to thinking they were right or wrong” (Kolbert). At this point, the students had to predict how they think they actually scored. The students that were told that they did well, continued to feel that way, and the students that were already under the impression that they didn’t do very well, continued to feel hopeless. This study proves that a person’s perception does not change easily. Once an impression is formed in a person’s mind, it will
Studies are regularly done to understand the minds of individuals. All the knowledge gathered on brain mechanics and functions can be attributed to studies. Although what a person may know about a subject or object is a fact, facts cannot always be proven to be true in the mind of a person. Sometimes people acquire what they think is a fact and refuse to admit it is a fallacy. For example, researchers get a group of students that have opposing views on capital punishment. Half of the group was in favor of it, the other half opposing. The students were told to respond to two studies, one of which supported the deterrence argument, and the other opposing it. Both studies were fake, but the group in support of capital punishment …show more content…
In Elizabeth Kolbert’s article, “Why Facts Don’t Change Our Minds,” from the February 27th, 2017 issue of The New Yorker, she successfully uses logos to justify why, even after learning a statistical fact, people will not listen to reason and will stay …show more content…
She begins her article by explaining a study done by researchers at Stanford in 1975. The study involved a group of students that had to predict which suicide note, out of a pair, was a genuine note from the Coroner's Office, or completely made up. Some students felt very confident in their predictions, and were told that they were correct about 24/25 times. Others were not feeling so great on what they were thinking and were told that they only got about 10/25 correct. Kolbert explains that the scores that the students were given were actually fictitious, and all of the students ended up having statistically similar scores. The second part of the study was to reveal to the students their actual scores, and explain that the real purpose of the study was to “gauge their responses to thinking they were right or wrong” (Kolbert). At this point, the students had to predict how they think they actually scored. The students that were told that they did well, continued to feel that way, and the students that were already under the impression that they didn’t do very well, continued to feel hopeless. This study proves that a person’s perception does not change easily. Once an impression is formed in a person’s mind, it will