this post was submitted on 28 Apr 2024
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I have been listening to a book about scientific intuition, what it is and why people believe incorrect theories and facts.
Answer, we are born as babies who know nothing, cognitive limitation as adults and the way we live and experience the world around us frames the questions we ask.
I was really surprised at the cognitive limitations data, even graduates of physics degrees might not know or understand basic principles because they are unable to have the mental imagery required for understanding. ie, unable to use visualisation
I suppose that explains why some students can pass exams but can't explain what they learnt or remember it years later or integrate the knowledge into their world view
What's it called? That sounds fascinating
Scienceblind: Why Our Intuitive Theories About the World Are So Often Wrong By: Andrew Shtulman
"In Scienceblind, cognitive and developmental psychologist Andrew Shtulman shows that the root of our misconceptions lies in the theories about the world we develop as children. They're not only wrong, they close our minds to ideas inconsistent with them, making us unable to learn science later in life. So how do we get the world right? We must dismantle our intuitive theories and rebuild our knowledge from its foundations. The reward won't just be a truer picture of the world, but clearer solutions to many controversies - around vaccines, climate change, or evolution - that plague our politics today."
Thanks!
This book has really made me think about what I thought of the world when I was a little child and then an older child.
Here's the thing, no adult ever asked me anything about my beliefs so any thoughts I had weren't put into speech or writing. And because of that I have to try to remember original thoughts rather than recall an action. It's not easy.
I expect like most people I like to think I was smart and didn't have silly ideas. But that's not true, I was a kid , I didn't have theories, for example the ground was the ground and I thought no more about it.
Thanks for unpacking that. That's fascinating because I think I had the opposite experience. We were taught to question/argue/think about how things worked (one parent in particular was very big on science and science thinking)....so on one hand I find it hard when people can't logic themselves out of conspiracies and such..on the other hand I have spent a LOT of time reprogramming the 'thoughts first, feelings second' approach to life. And I know from depression that logic can take you to a Baaad place when it's built on a faulty core belief. Only in the last few years have I been able to experience the ground as just the ground.
Makes me fascinated by this psychology.