WEBVTT - Why Your Brain Likes Conspiracy 0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:06.680 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:14.680 Works dot com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:14.720 --> 0:00:18.560 I'm Julie Douglas and my name is Ben Bowlen. I 0:00:18.880 --> 0:00:21.080 host car Stuff Stuff Then Want you to Know, and 0:00:21.160 --> 0:00:24.400 today I am guest hosting with you, Julie. That's right. 0:00:24.800 --> 0:00:28.080 Today Robert is not here, but in his stead is 0:00:28.160 --> 0:00:32.559 Mr Ben Boleyn and Robert will be back um for 0:00:32.760 --> 0:00:36.120 April five and infinity beyond that. But so thank you 0:00:36.200 --> 0:00:39.120 very much for hanging out with us today. Oh, thank you. 0:00:39.240 --> 0:00:43.240 I'm actually a big time fan, longtime listener, first time 0:00:43.280 --> 0:00:46.559 co host. Yeah, yeah, I know. It's very nice to 0:00:46.560 --> 0:00:49.400 have you here because today's topic, we think is going 0:00:49.440 --> 0:00:53.760 to lend itself nicely to April Fool's Day and a 0:00:53.800 --> 0:00:57.120 bit of what you do with stuff they don't want 0:00:57.120 --> 0:01:01.760 you to know because you deal with conspiracy theories of time, right, Yes, yes, 0:01:01.840 --> 0:01:05.119 it is in a lot of ways. I would say 0:01:05.120 --> 0:01:07.319 it's it's the focus of stuff then want you to know. 0:01:07.400 --> 0:01:11.640 We also cover some paranormal things. But if we're talking 0:01:11.680 --> 0:01:16.800 about conspiracy theories, uh, let's let's go ahead and take 0:01:16.840 --> 0:01:18.520 it all the way to the top. Let's let's take 0:01:18.560 --> 0:01:21.440 it to the Moon to the Moon. All right, you're 0:01:21.480 --> 0:01:26.480 you're speaking of the conspiracy theory that the moon landing 0:01:26.560 --> 0:01:30.240 was just a hoax perpetrated by the United States government. Yes, 0:01:30.360 --> 0:01:33.920 and this is uh, that's that's great. You've encapsulated it 0:01:33.959 --> 0:01:37.360 in a sentence. This if if conspiracy theories were like 0:01:37.440 --> 0:01:40.200 a band and they had a discography, this would be 0:01:40.200 --> 0:01:42.760 on the greatest hits because this is one of the 0:01:43.520 --> 0:01:48.960 classic conspiracies and it ranges. The reasons that people believe 0:01:49.040 --> 0:01:53.440 the moon landing was faked can can change depending on 0:01:53.480 --> 0:01:57.280 the circumstances and the conversation. But you know, we've got 0:01:57.320 --> 0:02:00.240 an excellent uh, we've got an excellent article for our 0:02:00.280 --> 0:02:04.240 own John Fuller, Right, that's right, and wonderful editor, John. 0:02:04.320 --> 0:02:07.520 And it's a great article, and it's about why some 0:02:07.600 --> 0:02:11.200 people believe the moon landings were a hoax. And you know, 0:02:11.400 --> 0:02:14.840 there's some reasons that you'll typically here. Oh yeah, I 0:02:14.880 --> 0:02:19.000 mean they're really really um. Typical things are that if 0:02:19.040 --> 0:02:21.240 you look at the photographs, there are no stars in 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:25.320 the background, right and um, and they say, well, if 0:02:25.320 --> 0:02:28.120 there's no there are no stars, obviously this was done 0:02:28.160 --> 0:02:30.760 on a set, right. And now, so it's like you 0:02:30.760 --> 0:02:33.280 know what that's not actually why, it's because the sun's 0:02:33.320 --> 0:02:35.399 rays are hitting the surface and it's way too bright 0:02:35.440 --> 0:02:39.080 for any camera to capture something in the distance. Right, So, 0:02:39.800 --> 0:02:41.760 you know, there are these reasons that seem kind of 0:02:41.800 --> 0:02:44.960 logical that that you can see in conspiracy theory, you know, 0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:48.200 starting to weave them their way in. But then you 0:02:48.200 --> 0:02:52.760 can refute it just as easily with well science and 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:57.639 an empirical objective observation. Um, there's also you know, it's funny, 0:02:57.720 --> 0:03:01.799 there's a sidebar this conspiracy theory. One of the furthest 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:07.160 reaches of it is the idea that Stanley Kubrick, no 0:03:07.200 --> 0:03:11.040 one other than Stanley Kubrick himself, actually participated and was 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:13.680 the one who filmed the fake landing on the Moon. 0:03:13.880 --> 0:03:16.160 Of course, I know it all makes sense now the 0:03:16.200 --> 0:03:18.720 pieces come together. I got it, totally makes sense because 0:03:18.720 --> 0:03:22.520 he's got skin in the game with one. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:03:23.880 --> 0:03:27.080 And it sounds sort of reasonable. Of course, these explanations 0:03:27.120 --> 0:03:30.280 people would have, if they don't, uh, if they don't 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:32.919 seem to quite jibe with what you already know, then 0:03:32.960 --> 0:03:35.600 there must be a reason for that. And the reason, 0:03:35.640 --> 0:03:39.880 of course can't be that we were wrong. Oh no, no, 0:03:40.800 --> 0:03:43.440 what's it was? Another really good one from that. Okay, 0:03:43.520 --> 0:03:47.680 let's go with the infamous sea rock. A lot of 0:03:47.720 --> 0:03:50.160 people who believe the moon landing was faked will tell 0:03:50.160 --> 0:03:52.840 you that it was a prop that was that actually 0:03:52.880 --> 0:03:55.800 dentally was shown on film with the letters C on 0:03:55.920 --> 0:04:01.440 it like someone some uh foolish proper person forgot to 0:04:01.440 --> 0:04:03.920 turn the rock around because you know whatever, like maybe 0:04:03.920 --> 0:04:07.040 the company's logo was emblazoned on it and the sea 0:04:07.120 --> 0:04:10.640 was showing right, And never mind that, NASA says, this 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:14.040 is most likely a stray hair that got onto the 0:04:14.080 --> 0:04:17.120 film and the developing process, because of course that's just 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:19.640 smoke and mirrors, right right, that's just of course you have. 0:04:19.760 --> 0:04:23.200 NASA would say that that seems really logical, and that's 0:04:23.240 --> 0:04:25.200 that's not the only one, of course, you you know, 0:04:25.839 --> 0:04:28.000 I'm sure we have a list of these here somewhere. 0:04:28.400 --> 0:04:32.000 Um shadow links. Oh yeah, the different shadow links. They 0:04:32.040 --> 0:04:35.120 were saying, okay, here's here's a photo of two astronauts 0:04:35.160 --> 0:04:39.520 are standing together, and yet their photo is showing these 0:04:39.680 --> 0:04:45.680 lengths that are disproportionate, and why is that? Why is that? Yeah? Yeah, 0:04:45.720 --> 0:04:48.839 and so NASA says, okay, again, it's not some sort 0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:52.080 of faulty lighting system that we used on our set 0:04:52.240 --> 0:04:54.800 that you think we built. It's actually that the terrain 0:04:54.960 --> 0:04:57.440 is rough and it's hilly and it produces variance. Is 0:04:57.560 --> 0:04:59.120 just like if you were to take a picture on 0:04:59.160 --> 0:05:02.640 a snow covered right and that you know, of course 0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:06.279 that makes sense again if you have taken photographs on 0:05:06.320 --> 0:05:09.760 a snow covered hill. But of course, if you believe 0:05:10.279 --> 0:05:14.320 that this is all some sort of large attempt to 0:05:14.400 --> 0:05:17.719 cover up quote unquote the truth, then of course NASA 0:05:17.839 --> 0:05:20.760 is gonna come up with explanations that may even seem clever, 0:05:21.560 --> 0:05:23.960 but but they don't jive again with what you're thinking. 0:05:24.120 --> 0:05:29.040 Another example, the American flag flapping in the breeze. Uh. 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:31.599 As we know, one of the reasons that there's not 0:05:31.640 --> 0:05:34.120 a resort on the Moon yet is that the atmosphere 0:05:34.320 --> 0:05:38.320 is not conducive to human beings or wind, and so 0:05:38.400 --> 0:05:41.080 the idea is, how could how could the wind uh 0:05:41.360 --> 0:05:44.760 show a flag or how could the film show a 0:05:44.800 --> 0:05:49.359 flag flapping in the breeze. And that's that's one of 0:05:49.400 --> 0:05:51.480 the other points. I mean, we you know, we could 0:05:51.480 --> 0:05:54.520 go on about this, uh, we go on about this forever, 0:05:54.720 --> 0:05:58.600 and um, Robert I apologize if people write mean things 0:05:58.600 --> 0:06:01.880 about moon landings to you. Please please guys forward the 0:06:01.880 --> 0:06:04.880 email to me. Um, you know you have other accusations 0:06:04.920 --> 0:06:07.239 slow motion films and wires. And for a long time, 0:06:07.760 --> 0:06:10.279 these groups, the people who believed in that the moon 0:06:10.360 --> 0:06:12.920 landing was faked for some reason, and the people who 0:06:12.960 --> 0:06:18.520 believe that those people were crazy, were understandably contentious and 0:06:18.520 --> 0:06:22.240 and um right, right, yes, And it was difficult for 0:06:22.279 --> 0:06:27.760 them to have a dialogue about that until Julian Assange 0:06:27.839 --> 0:06:32.120 of wiki leaks released some very interesting cables regarding the 0:06:32.120 --> 0:06:37.440 moon landing. Yeah, it turns out it's conclusively proven, due 0:06:37.440 --> 0:06:41.240 to the or from these diplomatic cables, uh, that the 0:06:41.279 --> 0:06:45.000 moon landing was faked with the assistance Stanley Kubrick, this 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:49.240 just hit the news. Go ahead and google it. You're kidding, 0:06:50.240 --> 0:06:52.479 Oh yeah, Well to make sure you get right to 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:56.159 the story, go ahead and google Happy April Fool's Day 0:06:56.839 --> 0:07:00.840 been fallen. I'm sorry, yeah, it's but you see how 0:07:00.880 --> 0:07:04.640 easy that was. I started, I was like, what wiki leaks, Wait, 0:07:04.720 --> 0:07:08.640 this is a new source, because it sounds reasonable if 0:07:08.680 --> 0:07:11.560 something like that was going to come from somewhere right right, 0:07:11.800 --> 0:07:14.320 Our new source in the sense that we're starting obviously 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:17.640 to get a flood of information we haven't gotten before, 0:07:17.400 --> 0:07:20.840 sure new sensory information, right, And my brain was starting 0:07:20.840 --> 0:07:22.720 to take that in and I have to say, like 0:07:22.840 --> 0:07:25.480 I was like, Okay, no, and he's he's not he's 0:07:25.520 --> 0:07:27.840 not actually telling the truth that were there. But a 0:07:27.840 --> 0:07:31.239 little part of my brain was going, but Wiki leaks 0:07:31.280 --> 0:07:33.240 telling us stuff we haven't known before. And I think 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:37.360 that's what's so fascinating about just the whole is the 0:07:37.400 --> 0:07:40.920 man the moon landings, where they a hoax, but the 0:07:40.960 --> 0:07:44.440 fact that you know, we have this sort of logic 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:48.200 that can't help but assemble itself on its own. It's 0:07:48.200 --> 0:07:51.840 almost like its own emergence in our brain cells try 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:54.560 and put all this together for us. And I was 0:07:54.600 --> 0:07:57.720 thinking about it. You know, we can't help but detect patterns, 0:07:57.840 --> 0:08:02.120 and especially when we look at path examples um that 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:08.160 have eroded our faith and information and government in the corporations. 0:08:08.320 --> 0:08:11.840 And a really good example is the cigarette industry. Oh 0:08:11.880 --> 0:08:13.440 that's a great example, you know. I mean, you know, 0:08:13.520 --> 0:08:16.480 for years, you know, decades long foot see playing with 0:08:16.920 --> 0:08:19.520 the government in terms of the information that they released 0:08:19.560 --> 0:08:22.680 about cigarettes and how harmful they are. So you've got 0:08:22.680 --> 0:08:24.920 an example like that in the public, well knows now 0:08:25.080 --> 0:08:27.640 that that was information that was kept from them. We've 0:08:27.640 --> 0:08:33.360 got Watergate, You've got Milli Vanilli, you know. I mean, 0:08:33.400 --> 0:08:35.280 these are things that you can start to point to 0:08:35.400 --> 0:08:38.160 and say, you know, if it happened before, you know, 0:08:38.160 --> 0:08:45.960 why couldn't happen again. This presentation is brought to you 0:08:46.000 --> 0:08:55.280 by Intel Sponsors of Tomorrow because human beings depend The 0:08:55.679 --> 0:08:58.360 way that the human species has survived for so long 0:08:59.040 --> 0:09:02.360 is really based on the ability to detect patterns and 0:09:02.440 --> 0:09:06.520 to think critically and abstractly about the future, or to 0:09:06.760 --> 0:09:10.960 let the precedent set from those past experiences influence our 0:09:11.120 --> 0:09:17.160 attitudes and behaviors when confronted with information that seems similar 0:09:17.400 --> 0:09:21.840 or seems to again coincide with what we had believed before. 0:09:22.520 --> 0:09:26.760 And this can lead to a funny little thing. And 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:30.679 by funny little thing, I mean one an enormously influential 0:09:30.800 --> 0:09:37.360 theory of psychology, uh that we call cognitive dissonance. Yeah, 0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:39.720 it's the bread to the butter when it comes to 0:09:39.760 --> 0:09:44.439 conspiracy theories and how we try to explain to ourselves, um, 0:09:44.559 --> 0:09:46.360 how this could happen? And I will you know, I 0:09:46.760 --> 0:09:48.280 do want to say, like I'm not making fun of 0:09:48.320 --> 0:09:52.120 conspiracy theorists. And I'm not making light of UM any 0:09:52.160 --> 0:09:54.480 of this, but I do think that we all have 0:09:54.559 --> 0:09:58.400 a little bit of a conspiracy theorists inside of ourselves. Sure, 0:09:58.800 --> 0:10:01.640 And it doesn't necessary really have to be UM for 0:10:01.720 --> 0:10:05.160 something like it doesn't necessarily have to be for something 0:10:05.200 --> 0:10:08.800 like the idea that the world is ruled by freemasons 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:12.160 or reptilian aliens or anything. It can be, it can 0:10:12.200 --> 0:10:15.560 it can be a small sort of theory as uh. 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:17.600 I think we talked about a little bit before on 0:10:17.679 --> 0:10:21.120 the air where you say, you know, uh, that person 0:10:21.200 --> 0:10:24.600 is after me, Yeah, yeah, or my cat, My cat 0:10:24.760 --> 0:10:28.000 is purposely you know, perpetrating this crime against me. I 0:10:28.080 --> 0:10:30.560 just know it. I just need to get that camera 0:10:30.679 --> 0:10:33.440 in my house hooked up and then I'll have evidence. Well, 0:10:33.480 --> 0:10:36.360 cats are are actually vengeful creatures. So I don't know 0:10:36.440 --> 0:10:40.880 that example, right, But I mean, basically, when you bring 0:10:40.960 --> 0:10:45.000 up cognitive dissonance, what we're talking about, and in more 0:10:45.080 --> 0:10:48.640 high salutent terms, is that when actions conflict with our beliefs, 0:10:48.720 --> 0:10:52.160 they can produce a phenomenon called cognitive distance, and it's 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:54.920 essentially a way of dealing with a discomfort that arises 0:10:54.920 --> 0:10:57.480 when your brain is trying to parse out two different 0:10:57.520 --> 0:11:02.200 cognitions which can and be manifested in our beliefs or 0:11:02.200 --> 0:11:06.240 our actions. And uh, here's the if if I could 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:09.440 take us with a historical sidebar real quicks. Okay, So 0:11:10.040 --> 0:11:12.800 this term cognitive dissonance. We we get this from the 0:11:12.840 --> 0:11:18.640 nineteen fifties by a social psychologist named Leon Festinger. And uh, 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:22.080 the interesting thing is his his research came about because 0:11:22.120 --> 0:11:26.560 he was trying to understand why a UFO doomsday cult 0:11:27.040 --> 0:11:33.240 uh increased trying to proselytize new believers when their prophecy failed. 0:11:33.360 --> 0:11:38.079 So this actually does come from a study of conspiracy theory. Okay. 0:11:38.120 --> 0:11:40.960 So and so his he kind of sat there and went, hey, 0:11:41.120 --> 0:11:45.920 now that that, um, it's obvious that the UFOs maybe 0:11:45.920 --> 0:11:49.400 didn't have the evidence that that this group thought there 0:11:49.600 --> 0:11:52.520 was why in the world where they continue with their beliefs, Right, 0:11:52.720 --> 0:11:56.080 he was like, what's going on here? Excellent question for 0:11:56.080 --> 0:11:58.720 for the we'll do the reader's digest version of this. 0:11:58.840 --> 0:12:03.520 So basically, there's, uh, this person, this cult leader who 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:08.360 begins receiving messages of course, uh, intangible messages from a 0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:13.760 UFO telling her about the end of the world, gathering 0:12:13.840 --> 0:12:18.720 up followers. These she forms a cult. These people are 0:12:19.200 --> 0:12:23.840 um together, united in their preparation for a coming apocalypse 0:12:24.440 --> 0:12:27.520 with a definite date. And the date comes and it 0:12:27.600 --> 0:12:32.960 goes and nothing. The world surprisingly does not end. But 0:12:33.880 --> 0:12:38.400 the cult leader, uh strangely enough, gets a new message 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:41.920 that says, due to their the good works of the 0:12:41.920 --> 0:12:45.440 cult and the good intentions or whatnot, um, they have 0:12:45.640 --> 0:12:51.280 saved the world, which means that their religion is now 0:12:52.040 --> 0:12:57.280 not disproven but further validated, which means that they have 0:12:58.240 --> 0:13:03.720 somehow um. This this kind of attempt to even out 0:13:03.840 --> 0:13:08.360 or balance the gap between the knowledge that they have, 0:13:08.520 --> 0:13:10.840 which is that the world is not ended, and the 0:13:10.840 --> 0:13:14.640 actions that they took, you know, um, and to make themselves, 0:13:14.840 --> 0:13:16.920 I don't want to say, feel better, but to sort 0:13:16.960 --> 0:13:20.120 of rationalize the distance between those two. I don't know though, 0:13:20.120 --> 0:13:22.439 I think that's the crux of it. I mean, because 0:13:22.679 --> 0:13:25.320 that is the discomfort they're feeling, right, Yes, that's the 0:13:25.360 --> 0:13:28.199 cognitive distance. Okay, they're like that is not matching up. 0:13:28.280 --> 0:13:32.199 And and all of a sudden, the cult leader, in 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:37.360 automatic writing, right, which is like so eighties, um, you know, 0:13:37.480 --> 0:13:40.600 gets this message and then they're all relieved of that 0:13:40.679 --> 0:13:46.679 discomfort and that relief outweighs the chance I suppose for 0:13:47.080 --> 0:13:51.320 true knowledge in this case. And so they're they're going 0:13:51.360 --> 0:13:53.920 to be tied to that because at least they're feeling better, 0:13:53.960 --> 0:13:56.920 and it's all squared to their logic and life is 0:13:57.000 --> 0:14:01.559 normal again, at least for them, whatever normal is. And 0:14:01.559 --> 0:14:05.760 and then with as Fastener was exploring this, you know, 0:14:05.880 --> 0:14:10.920 he said that there are that this dissonance produces a discomfort, 0:14:10.960 --> 0:14:14.360 and correspondingly, there will arise pressures to reduce or eliminate 0:14:14.440 --> 0:14:18.000 this dissonance. And you know, he goes on to analyze 0:14:18.440 --> 0:14:24.720 the ways in which this dissonance occurs and how it resolves, 0:14:24.720 --> 0:14:28.080 and he found that there are several ways to to 0:14:28.120 --> 0:14:32.000 find this. Uh, there are several ways to deal with 0:14:32.200 --> 0:14:39.680 this cognitive dissonance, and I'll tell you what they are. Um, 0:14:39.720 --> 0:14:42.040 a person may try to change one or more of 0:14:42.040 --> 0:14:45.080 their behaviors or beliefs. That's the first way. The second 0:14:45.160 --> 0:14:47.880 is that a person may try to acquire new information 0:14:48.000 --> 0:14:51.440 or beliefs to increase the consonants, which will lessen the 0:14:51.520 --> 0:14:53.920 overall dissonance. I mean, that's that's obvious in the case 0:14:54.080 --> 0:14:57.360 of the UFOL cult. And then the third is that 0:14:57.400 --> 0:14:59.640 a person may try to forget or play down the 0:14:59.640 --> 0:15:04.120 importan the cognition that butting up against the contradictory cognition. 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:07.520 And there's our smoking example again, right, there's a there's 0:15:07.520 --> 0:15:11.000 a great example of smoking. Um. And this is from passenger. Again, 0:15:11.000 --> 0:15:14.440 I'm quoting a passenger. Uh. He says, for example, a 0:15:14.480 --> 0:15:16.840 cigarette smoker who believes that smoking is bad for his 0:15:16.880 --> 0:15:19.440 health has an opinion that is dissonant with the knowledge 0:15:19.480 --> 0:15:22.520 that he is continuing to smoke. He may have many 0:15:22.560 --> 0:15:25.440 other opinions, beliefs, or items of knowledge that are consonant 0:15:25.440 --> 0:15:28.800 with continuing to smoke, but the dissonance still exists too, 0:15:28.960 --> 0:15:31.880 and because of that come because of that discomfort, you know, 0:15:32.160 --> 0:15:36.120 because humans want patterns. We want all the pieces of 0:15:36.120 --> 0:15:40.120 a puzzle to fit. Because of that, this smoker in 0:15:40.120 --> 0:15:43.480 this question may try to change a behavior belief, may 0:15:43.480 --> 0:15:46.360 try to quit smoking, for instance, UH, may try to 0:15:46.800 --> 0:15:51.080 learn new things that will increase the consonants, something that says, well, 0:15:51.160 --> 0:15:53.320 smoking might be bad for other people, but for me, 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:57.480 it's actually genius, um, you know. Or may just try 0:15:57.520 --> 0:15:59.560 to forget it or play it down, you know, never 0:15:59.640 --> 0:16:03.000 mind them young, or I'm under a last stress. Yeah, yeah, 0:16:03.040 --> 0:16:05.120 and the forgetting part right, I may have to say, 0:16:05.120 --> 0:16:07.080 I have to admit that when I was a smoker, 0:16:07.120 --> 0:16:10.960 I oftentimes, you know, sort of willfully forgot the fact 0:16:11.000 --> 0:16:13.720 that I was doing all sorts of crazy things to 0:16:14.000 --> 0:16:17.080 my poor cells in my body. Um. So, I mean 0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:18.920 it happens, right, And that's why I say it's it's 0:16:18.920 --> 0:16:21.880 really this. This is so fascinating because there is a 0:16:21.920 --> 0:16:25.120 little bit of cognitive dissonance going on with us, all 0:16:25.160 --> 0:16:28.240 of us at some level, every day with with the 0:16:28.600 --> 0:16:30.120 things that we're dealing with. And then you just see 0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:33.920 it in really extreme forms and stuff like conspiracy theories 0:16:35.120 --> 0:16:39.120 revolving around the moon. Sure sure, or we we could 0:16:39.120 --> 0:16:43.440 also see at times, um, cognitive dissonance can really come 0:16:43.440 --> 0:16:48.160 out in uh decision points, you know. Uh. For for instance, 0:16:48.200 --> 0:16:51.360 you will often hear that people will say a a 0:16:51.440 --> 0:16:56.680 public figure or a politician or a large, um, very 0:16:56.720 --> 0:17:00.840 influential business owner is saying things that seem to be hypocritical. 0:17:01.120 --> 0:17:03.560 But how much of that is actually how much of 0:17:03.560 --> 0:17:07.040 that is um malevolent or calculated? And how much of 0:17:07.080 --> 0:17:11.480 that is just these poor folks functioning under cognitive dissonances. Yeah, 0:17:11.720 --> 0:17:16.440 so and basically funneling those perceptions through right, so this 0:17:16.480 --> 0:17:20.280 is really interesting. There is a neuroscientist named Cameron Carter 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:24.200 at the University of California Davis and UM. This is 0:17:24.240 --> 0:17:27.919 actually information pulled from a Newsweek article titled Wired for 0:17:28.040 --> 0:17:34.400 Hypocrisy by Sharon Bagley UM. Carter used volunteers to study 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:39.360 their brains basically during cognitive dissonance UH, and he did 0:17:39.359 --> 0:17:42.320 that with fl MARI and the volunteer spent forty five 0:17:42.400 --> 0:17:45.639 minutes doing a really rope task inside fm R I 0:17:45.760 --> 0:17:49.000 tube and then afterward they were asked to answer questions 0:17:49.040 --> 0:17:51.680 about their experience, which, of course the board across the 0:17:51.720 --> 0:17:54.440 board they did not like, which seems obvious, right, You're 0:17:54.440 --> 0:17:58.280 stuck in a tiny little tube doing something boring and 0:17:58.320 --> 0:18:01.200 you're really gonna probably so I would highly dislike it. 0:18:02.000 --> 0:18:05.640 That's what I would check highly disliked UM. But they 0:18:05.640 --> 0:18:08.960 were asked to answer the questions again that they had 0:18:09.000 --> 0:18:13.000 answered after their first experience, and this time half of 0:18:13.000 --> 0:18:15.280 the volunteers were told that their answers were going to 0:18:15.280 --> 0:18:18.120 be read by a nervous patient who needed reassurance about 0:18:18.200 --> 0:18:21.080 undergoing an fm R. The other half were told that 0:18:21.119 --> 0:18:23.080 they were going to get a dollar each time they 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:28.040 answered the questions as though they were enjoying the scanner kitching. 0:18:28.280 --> 0:18:30.960 So as though, so that's the that's the important part, 0:18:31.000 --> 0:18:36.439 to answer the questions um with two sort of present 0:18:36.640 --> 0:18:40.880 an opinion publicly that does not match with their personal 0:18:40.920 --> 0:18:43.680 opinion or experience. Yeah, and of course I'm just gonna 0:18:43.720 --> 0:18:45.840 ask which do you think which narra do you think 0:18:46.000 --> 0:18:50.840 was more effective? Hmmm, that's you know, that's a question 0:18:50.880 --> 0:18:54.040 for me. That's tricky because it seems, you know, on 0:18:54.359 --> 0:18:57.280 the offset, just with this information, it seems like there 0:18:57.280 --> 0:19:00.240 may be a difference between the people who am angst 0:19:00.280 --> 0:19:04.320 us are profiteers and who amongst us are nurturing people. Okay, 0:19:04.800 --> 0:19:09.000 but you know what, for just just for guessing, just 0:19:09.119 --> 0:19:11.520 for the sake of guessing, I would say that the 0:19:11.760 --> 0:19:18.439 people who are the people who are motivated by the 0:19:18.600 --> 0:19:23.399 money probably think that the probably actually think that this 0:19:23.480 --> 0:19:25.400 might be a better thing. No, no, no, no, wait, 0:19:25.440 --> 0:19:28.040 oh I don't know, I don't know. Oh, I don't know. 0:19:28.080 --> 0:19:31.680 I think you just revealed your your black capitalist heart. 0:19:31.920 --> 0:19:35.280 I did. I'm a profiteer, yeah, you're a profitier. Actually, 0:19:35.359 --> 0:19:37.560 it was the people who were most concerned about a 0:19:37.640 --> 0:19:42.200 nervous patient and the exciting thing about this whole thing, 0:19:42.400 --> 0:19:46.960 UM wasn't necessarily that they could see the neural correlations 0:19:47.280 --> 0:19:49.119 what was going on inside of their brain when they 0:19:49.160 --> 0:19:51.520 were lying, because they also took f M R I 0:19:51.680 --> 0:19:55.199 when they were UM, when they were essentially lying on 0:19:55.240 --> 0:19:58.520 those tests to see what was going on, all of 0:19:58.520 --> 0:20:01.320 those brains, All the areas in the brain were active, 0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:04.359 all those areas that are trying to square two different 0:20:04.400 --> 0:20:08.159 pieces of information. Yes, yeah, that was definitely happening, and 0:20:08.160 --> 0:20:10.560 that is interesting in and of itself. But the really again, 0:20:10.600 --> 0:20:13.639 the really interesting thing was that it was the people 0:20:13.720 --> 0:20:20.080 who um who were trying to yeah that this this 0:20:20.520 --> 0:20:23.400 phony patient that it was okay. Those were the people 0:20:23.440 --> 0:20:26.600 who have the most activity. And then those were also 0:20:26.640 --> 0:20:29.160 the people who afterward continued to say that they had 0:20:29.200 --> 0:20:33.320 a good experience and that they changed their brain essentially, 0:20:33.359 --> 0:20:37.280 like they changed their actually their actions and their beliefs 0:20:37.880 --> 0:20:41.000 based on this. Julie, there is there is a fan 0:20:41.040 --> 0:20:43.480 of Orwell somewhere out there on the internet listening to 0:20:43.560 --> 0:20:46.280 show right now, and they're waiting for us to say 0:20:46.280 --> 0:20:49.800 it you win, double think. It's it's almost it's it's 0:20:49.880 --> 0:20:52.560 kind of similar to that, and it sort of makes sense, 0:20:52.600 --> 0:20:56.280 because if you think about it, your cognitive dissonance is 0:20:56.359 --> 0:20:59.160 sort of your brain asking why is this happening? Why 0:20:59.160 --> 0:21:01.919 am I doing this? Um? And now that I have 0:21:02.040 --> 0:21:05.160 that answer wrong, it makes sense that the people who 0:21:05.720 --> 0:21:09.800 are receiving an external reward or an external justification for 0:21:09.840 --> 0:21:15.000 their line will find themselves uh less uh, you know, 0:21:15.520 --> 0:21:20.080 with less of a desire to internally retrofit their ideas. 0:21:21.000 --> 0:21:23.480 So they can say they can say, you know, well, 0:21:23.520 --> 0:21:25.879 of course I'm lying to these people. I'm getting a 0:21:25.960 --> 0:21:28.880 dollar every time. Let me lie to some more people. Yeah, sure, yeah, 0:21:28.920 --> 0:21:31.880 they don't really have any skin in the game emotionally. Yeah, 0:21:31.920 --> 0:21:34.920 that's a good point. But when you're trying to be involved, 0:21:35.200 --> 0:21:39.560 um and motivate someone, I guess in a in a 0:21:39.640 --> 0:21:43.600 in a qualified way, whether when your reward is something 0:21:43.640 --> 0:21:46.600 that is qualitative rather than quantitative. In this case, right, 0:21:46.960 --> 0:21:49.919 they're trying to make somebody feel better, and in the 0:21:50.000 --> 0:21:53.360 process of saying all these it's not that bad, it's 0:21:53.400 --> 0:21:56.440 not that boring, you're gonna have fun. In the process 0:21:56.480 --> 0:22:00.520 of that, they're starting to um. So sort of pull 0:22:00.600 --> 0:22:04.320 the move that Merlin pulls in a Connecticut Yankee King 0:22:04.440 --> 0:22:07.480 Arthur's court. The Mark Twain book, Merlin makes the mistake 0:22:07.520 --> 0:22:10.479 of a lot of magicians and believes that his stuff 0:22:10.520 --> 0:22:13.560 is actual magic. And uh so you start to believe 0:22:13.640 --> 0:22:16.359 yourself as you sell these days. Well, I will tell you. 0:22:16.520 --> 0:22:18.720 I'll give you a personal example, and it'll be a 0:22:18.760 --> 0:22:21.960 short one. But when we were at south By Southwest, 0:22:22.000 --> 0:22:24.600 I was at the Austin Airport and I was coming home, 0:22:25.040 --> 0:22:28.359 and it was overbooked, of course, and I had not 0:22:28.520 --> 0:22:31.440 had a seat confirmed yet, even though you know, I've 0:22:31.480 --> 0:22:35.959 had my um my arrangements made well in advance. And 0:22:36.040 --> 0:22:38.639 so what happened is I got bumped from that plane 0:22:38.640 --> 0:22:41.280 and I was rerouted to St. Paul, Minnesota, and then 0:22:41.920 --> 0:22:45.440 back down to Atlanta. St. Paul. Yeah, it was mad. 0:22:46.000 --> 0:22:48.920 It was steaming mad, understandable. It was like a love 0:22:48.960 --> 0:22:50.879 ster that had crawled out of the pot and I 0:22:50.960 --> 0:22:55.720 was seeking revenge. Um And they said, okay, well, and 0:22:55.720 --> 0:22:57.359 I'm not gonna tell you how much they paid me 0:22:57.480 --> 0:23:00.400 for my inconveniences, but they paid me a considerable sum. 0:23:00.880 --> 0:23:05.240 And at the time I was like, yeah, whatever, money 0:23:05.280 --> 0:23:08.199 doesn't matter. You're awful. But I can't tell them are 0:23:08.200 --> 0:23:10.640 awful because it's the principle of the things right, I did. 0:23:10.640 --> 0:23:12.720 I didn't actually say it's the principal thing, and thanks 0:23:12.720 --> 0:23:15.800 a lot and whatever, um, And I have to say 0:23:15.840 --> 0:23:18.800 that ever since then, I applied that money to a 0:23:18.840 --> 0:23:23.480 mini vacation and the experience feels a lot less awful 0:23:23.520 --> 0:23:25.680 than it was, because it was it was like then 0:23:25.720 --> 0:23:29.640 it was, you know, another eight hours of travel, um, 0:23:29.680 --> 0:23:31.320 and so I want and so forth. But I'm going 0:23:31.359 --> 0:23:34.080 to tell you that that sort of cognitive dissonance was 0:23:34.560 --> 0:23:37.760 dispelled by the folks at Delta. So I know that 0:23:37.760 --> 0:23:40.840 they're studying this, and you're now you're reaching the state 0:23:40.880 --> 0:23:44.120 of consonants where things are starting to fit together. Things 0:23:44.119 --> 0:23:48.200 are fine, but kind a mini vacation. But here's the question. 0:23:48.240 --> 0:23:50.680 Oh and and just for the just for the goodies, 0:23:50.720 --> 0:23:53.760 for the people who love the love the specifics and 0:23:53.760 --> 0:23:56.760 the anatomical Yeah, yeah, we should. We should talk about 0:23:56.760 --> 0:23:58.480 the parts of the brain that that are letting up 0:23:58.600 --> 0:24:02.080