Eli5: Why is it easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled?

Question

Eli5: Why is it easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled?

In: 634

Answer 1

Confirmation bias.

People want to believe things they are pre-disposed to believing.

A good example is getting a ‘2nd opinion’ from a doctor about a medical condition..

When you should think of it as ‘2 first opinions’ but our brains are so used to confirmation bias, we see the 2nd opinion as less valuable, or useful, in order to ‘confirm’ the 1st opinion. This is because we chose the person to give us that 1st opinion. It doesn’t make that doctor automatically right simply because we chose them.

Answer 2

Confirmation bias.

People want to believe things they are pre-disposed to believing.

A good example is getting a ‘2nd opinion’ from a doctor about a medical condition..

When you should think of it as ‘2 first opinions’ but our brains are so used to confirmation bias, we see the 2nd opinion as less valuable, or useful, in order to ‘confirm’ the 1st opinion. This is because we chose the person to give us that 1st opinion. It doesn’t make that doctor automatically right simply because we chose them.