Why People Don't Want The Truth: How the brain filters bad news

www.guardian.co.uk/

We are more likely to be receptive to good news than bad, and a team at UCL has gone some way to explaining why we prefer to look on the bright side

Co-author Ryota Kanai administering transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to a participant's brain

Co-author Ryota Kanai administering transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), which sends magnetic pulses into a participant's brain. Photograph: National Academy of Sciences

Most of us go through life with a selective ear for the news we take in. We hear the good more than the bad, the flattering more than the insulting. And we update our beliefs in a way that reflects that bias.

The effect appears in many guises. We update our self image when told we are smarter or better-looking than we thought. But if we hear we are more stupid and uglier than we supposed, we revise that image rather less. In the general population, about 80% to 90% of us behave this way.

The regions of the brain to which TMS was administered The regions to which TMS was administered. The right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) is on the right, and the left IFG is on the left. Photograph: National Academy of Sciences

There are pros and cons to what neuroscientists call the "good news/bad news effect", though by the nature of the beast, you might dismiss the negatives. In building beliefs predominantly on good news, we lean towards an optimistic view of life. We are less anxious of the likelihoods of unpleasant events: cancer, burglary, internet fraud, missing a flight, divorce.

There is a cost to this rose-tinted view of the world though. To ignore bad news can be dangerous. It can make us overconfident, perhaps even reckless. It might leave us unprepared for a natural disaster, naive to the dangers of contracting disease, or oblivious to the warning signs of impending financial collapse.

In a series of experiments at University College London, a team of neuroscientists has gone some way to explaining how this preference for good news arises in the brain. Through disrupting the function of a small brain region, they neutralised the bias and left people as open to bad news as they were to good. READ MORE HERE>>

(TLS-) It seems that people just want to feel good and wander through their lives. This article proves to me we're not done evolving yet as this is a major design flaw in my eyes and our greatest challenge. Most people are not interested in the truth because it's usually bad news and scary, sorry 9-11 was an inside, outside, Mossad, Saudi, ISI job! Fighting nature is tough but can be done.

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Comment by Tara on September 27, 2012 at 1:44am: @Russ... ???

Comment by Russ Hallberg Jr on September 27, 2012 at 1:32am: Evolving? Cro-Magnon had a larger brain than us, and Neanderthal humans had even larger brains! Even in primitive societies, smart people have fewer children and have them later in life. The dummies have been making more babies for thousands of years.

Like it or not, transhumanism is coming. If the people of conscience don't take the initiative for human transhumanism, the evil folks will. What's wrong with a superhuman with free will and a conscience?

Comment by Tara on September 27, 2012 at 12:38am: The real reason why people don't care to hear the truth is out of FEAR.... fear of having to change within or to think outside of the box. And to avoid painful, uncomfortable situations, they will go out of their way to escape that fear with distraction from reality; via TV, magic pills, drugs, alcohol, sex, shopping, gambling, idol worship, ectera. It is psychology 101. Fear is the number one paralyzer. It has kept humanity back from realizing their true potential to become the change they seek.

Humanity still has many mountains to climb before we ever reach the precipice, the final destination into heavenly nirvana.

Comment by Darrell Rowlands on September 26, 2012 at 4:14pm: That paragraph about the series of experiments at University College London - Neuroscientists; they're sociopathic; most of them are transhumanists (and they always get interviewed in these garbage mainstream "science" news) - dictating to people what nature supposedly is. Very Orwellian.