Why people keep posting dumb shit: finally, a scientific explanation

F

faet

I always snort with derision when I see posts (both here and on other platforms) trying to validate something or someone that clearly is beneath contempt.

Take Donald Trump.

While someone like Mike Pence, for example, would have been an excellent Republican nominee for POTUS (one can disagree all we want about policies, beliefs and convictions but Pence at least does have solid conservative principles and simply does that must be done), it is impossible for Trump to be a leader of any kind.

Let's talk about his extremely thin skin for instance: any time someone displays the minimum criticism about what Trump has to say, they will be met with a plethora of insults.

Case in point, Dick Cheney publicly endorsing Harris. DJT posted this as retaliation:

Dick Cheney is an irrelevant RINO, along with his daughter, who lost by the largest margin in the History of Congressional Races! They couldn’t get Scooter Libby, who did so much for them (but was so unfairly treated!), PARDONED. I did it! He’s the King of Endless, Nonsensical Wars, wasting Lives and Trillions of Dollars, just like Comrade Kamala Harris. I am the Peace President, and only I will stop World War III! What Liz Cheney did with the Unselect Committee of Political Losers is unthinkable. She and her Unselects deleted and destroyed all evidence and information - IT’S GONE. Much of it proved that Nancy Pelosi was responsible for J6 - DIDN’T PROVIDE SECURITY. Cheney and the others should be prosecuted for what they did, but Comrade Kamala is even worse!
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This is exactly how my 11-years old nephew reacts when someone wrongs him.

This is not how a leader, any leader, ever, reacts. Even more so if you're candidate for POTUS.

Everyone with a modicum of common sense, left or right, can see that.


Which is why I have always been dismayed by the fact that so many people, despite all the evidence, keep praising this sad excuse for a human being.


Well, now I have a scientific explanation for why that is.

The following video talks about dopamine (the brain's reward system). The video is very long (over 2 hours), but there's a very short segment which goes

Hearing something that reinforces one's prior beliefs, actually can evoke dopamine release.
So the dopamine pathway is so vulnerable to subjective interpretation that it actually makes it such that when we see something or hear something that validates a belief we already have that itself can increase dopamine release.
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So there you have it: people keep believing what they want to believe, because that makes them feel good.

Even science agrees.
 
faet said:
So there you have it: people keep believing what they want to believe, because that makes them feel good. Even science agrees.
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Yes, and that includes all of us including you.

Can we have this thread moved to politics as this has nothing to do with trading?
 
Coin Flip said:
Yes, and that includes all of us including you.

Can we have this thread moved to politics as this has nothing to do with trading?
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Of course that includes me.

The thread is posted in Psychology. The DJT mention was just an example to make the case.
 
Agree. Politics, business, sports, relationships, markets, etc. All the same. Belief is everything.

A good way to fail in any of them is to "believe" in ... always, never, will, going to, should, would, without exception, - instead of might, maybe, could, possibly, perhaps.

Someone so sure of themselves is almost always (had to use this word in this case) FOS.
 
It doesn't bother us.

There are already tons of shit info out there.
So learn to detect it and avoid reading it.
 
People need to get past the personalities and start looking at the job performance and what they are actually going to do. One of these two people will be running the country soon. Harris is in "say anything to get elected" mode right now - most of what she's saying has no chance of ever seeing the light of day if she gets in. Trump is certainly a South Park character not unlike Eric Cartman. If you're voting you're going to need to hold your breath and pull the lever for one of them. Mean tweets are one thing, but socialism will take the lower income folks into a cycle of dependency on the gov't that may become permanent as it has in other countries. I know some liberals want that, but I don't.
 
faet said:
I always snort with derision when I see posts (both here and on other platforms) trying to validate something or someone that clearly is beneath contempt.

Take Donald Trump.

While someone like Mike Pence, for example, would have been an excellent Republican nominee for POTUS (one can disagree all we want about policies, beliefs and convictions but Pence at least does have solid conservative principles and simply does that must be done), it is impossible for Trump to be a leader of any kind.

Let's talk about his extremely thin skin for instance: any time someone displays the minimum criticism about what Trump has to say, they will be met with a plethora of insults.

Case in point, Dick Cheney publicly endorsing Harris. DJT posted this as retaliation:




This is exactly how my 11-years old nephew reacts when someone wrongs him.

This is not how a leader, any leader, ever, reacts. Even more so if you're candidate for POTUS.

Everyone with a modicum of common sense, left or right, can see that.


Which is why I have always been dismayed by the fact that so many people, despite all the evidence, keep praising this sad excuse for a human being.


Well, now I have a scientific explanation for why that is.

The following video talks about dopamine (the brain's reward system). The video is very long (over 2 hours), but there's a very short segment which goes









So there you have it: people keep believing what they want to believe, because that makes them feel good.

Even science agrees.
More...

You think Trump a self made billionaire is dumb instead of some neoconservative career politician sellout ? Are you a native Italian or did you arrive by boat ?
 
Last edited:
faet said:
I always snort with derision when I see posts (both here and on other platforms) trying to validate something or someone that clearly is beneath contempt.

Take Donald Trump.

While someone like Mike Pence, for example, would have been an excellent Republican nominee for POTUS (one can disagree all we want about policies, beliefs and convictions but Pence at least does have solid conservative principles and simply does that must be done), it is impossible for Trump to be a leader of any kind.

Let's talk about his extremely thin skin for instance: any time someone displays the minimum criticism about what Trump has to say, they will be met with a plethora of insults.

Case in point, Dick Cheney publicly endorsing Harris. DJT posted this as retaliation:




This is exactly how my 11-years old nephew reacts when someone wrongs him.

This is not how a leader, any leader, ever, reacts. Even more so if you're candidate for POTUS.

Everyone with a modicum of common sense, left or right, can see that.


Which is why I have always been dismayed by the fact that so many people, despite all the evidence, keep praising this sad excuse for a human being.


Well, now I have a scientific explanation for why that is.

The following video talks about dopamine (the brain's reward system). The video is very long (over 2 hours), but there's a very short segment which goes









So there you have it: people keep believing what they want to believe, because that makes them feel good.

Even science agrees.
More...

Interesting read.

“…So much of what has occurred these last few years in our politics can be attributed to cognitive dissonance, the psychological theory that explains why we often choose self-delusion over facts that conflict with our own beliefs. It came from Leon Festinger, who observed that the human mind experiences this dissonance, or mental pain, when confronted with information that contradicts our beliefs or behavior. Like nails on a chalkboard, it hurts our heads, and we’ll go to great lengths to avoid it, including rationalizing or explaining away what we believe to be true so that the dissonance fades and the pain stops…”



“In the heat of a football game, it’s a lot less mentally painful to believe that the referees are blowing it than to accept the reality that our team just isn’t as good as we thought (Take one look at my Twitter account during an Auburn game and you’ll see this on full display). For some parents, it’s a lot easier to think a teacher or coach is out to get their kid than it is to come to the realization that their seemingly perfect child might have learning or behavioral problems….”




https://aldailynews.com/stacy-column-cognitive-dissonance-is-a-hell-of-a-drug/
 
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