Kategorie: Balanced life

What is the reason of gullibility?

We all know that rumours and allegations are often long-lasting. False insinuations spread via spoken words or facial expressions and gestures persist in the organization for a long time, even if the facts and data refute them. Researchers discovered social and cognitive factors that explain the persistence of rumours and allegations.

These are here summarized:

Cognitive factors

1. Intuition („gut feeling“) through:

  • Little analysis
  • Less analytical thinking

2. Cognitive inaccuracy due to:

  • References to sources are neglected or forgotten
  • Own knowledge is not applied
  • Counter-evidence is neglected  

3. Illusory truth:

  • Familiarity of information
  • Fluency
  • Cohesion with own experience

Social factors

1. Credibility of groups through:

  • Hierarchies (elites)
  • Degree of attraction / attractiveness
  • Own social affiliation

2. World views through

  • personal views
  • Affiliation to a party

3. Emotions

  • One’s own emotional state
  • Information itself is presented emotionally

The whole study can be found under this link: Eckert et al.

The five Toltec promises

From Don Miguel Ruiz

1. Let your words be blameless: This means be integer what you say, which is the case when you are honest in what you are thinking without attacking the conversational partner verbally. This means as well without manipulation, lying or cheating. (Asserting without attacking)

2. Don’t take anything personally: If you take something personally, you will behave ego-driven and lose your own balanced integrity. The person who has hurt you, thus, gains power over your behaviour. 

3. Do not draw hasty conclusions: Take it like Socrates, „I know that I know nothing.“. Our own assumptions are related to our experiences, not to the now.

4. Always do your best: When you have a project, do the best you can with all your energy and knowledge. When you have done it, let it go. Don’t Think about it any more, doubt or criticize what you have done. Perfectionism is often a lack of self-confidence and creates lasting dissatisfaction.

5. See your projects as continuous learning: Problems are always only an interpretation of the situation we are experiencing. Situations are neutral in themselves, it is our assumptions and interpretations, coming from our experiences in the past, which judge them. The own judgement have an effect by generating feelings and emotions, which drives our behaviour and at the end the result. Problems always hold the possibility to learn, grow and develop.