Members in the Media
From: Quartz

The psychology of insiders and outsiders can explain why we have such a hard time agreeing on reality

Quartz:

On Oct. 19, an estimated 70 million Americans tuned in for the final presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. In theory, voters watching the debates should experience a common version of reality: everyone is hearing the same words, spoken by the same people. Whereas the New York Times and Fox News may report on the presidential campaign quite differently, watching a debate offers an unfiltered version of each candidate in real time.

Yet when Republicans and Democrats watch the exact same event, they somehow walk away with radically different conclusions about what just happened. This is because people do not see the world objectively. The human brain is constantly filtering the world in a manner that reinforces the goals and values of our favorite group—whether that involves political affiliations, national identities or our hometown baseball team.

Read the whole story: Quartz

More of our Members in the Media >


APS regularly opens certain online articles for discussion on our website. Effective February 2021, you must be a logged-in APS member to post comments. By posting a comment, you agree to our Community Guidelines and the display of your profile information, including your name and affiliation. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations present in article comments are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of APS or the article’s author. For more information, please see our Community Guidelines.

Please login with your APS account to comment.