TEDxCanberra - Ash Donaldson - Cognitive dissonance

Multiple-TED attendee and human factors expert, Ash Donaldson, wants us to better understand why we believe what we do. In this talk, Ash explains how our minds build belief and then breaks it down, showing us how and why humans are fooled into believing that things like Power Bands, anti-aging treatments and supplements actually work. Along the way, he tells us how as a trainee pilot he managed to nearly get himself killed by allowing his beliefs to rule logic and provable fact.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• tedx
• tedxcanberra
• ash donaldson
• belief
• cognitive dissonance

[undertehlaw]

With the blast shield down, I can't even see. How am I supposed to fight?

[cutes22]

That talk kicked ass.

[dij7878]

This was awesome! I was looking for something to help me explain cognitive dissonance in my Social Psychology class. This is presentation is perfect. Thanks for posting it :-)

[thecoolmex]

@Greensparrow101 This reality its whats detroying the mind and this world. Doesn't matter how hard may the decision be between acceping or denying it, if your mind stays strong the brain will be smart enough to learn live and make a change for the better good, outside this reality.

[TheVariableConstant]

@pixelprotagonist Interesting addition.There is indeed more going on than talked about here within the limited time frame. I just didn't find it appropriate for such a complex topic as cognitive dissonance to be discussed in such a superficial manner (especially being a topic which i can relate to due to my peculiar situation)...then again, could have been the right approach under the given circumstances...maybe, maybe not.

[TheVariableConstant]

@Trickndel Maybe you should read more than you assume. I clarified the problem and only used what you think was an ad hominem, as a final seal to my point and not the entire bases of my train of thought. I have no interest in arguing over this, especially with someone who can't correctly read and understand as your main argument was only a fraction of my comment.

[Greensparrow101]

His cognitive dissonance was induced by fear and lack of trust. I too, was a pilot and did instrument training, and did not have this problem. I did however... before flying. Had the "pleasure" of jumping out of aircraft at 500ft. This had two effects. I learned to trust my equipment, and had the living fear "beaten" out of me. It's a big factor in accepting reality. I wish he would have mentioned that in his speech. Still good though... nice job.

[Trickndel]

The people arguing "Oh he is just a pilot". Get out of your ad hominem asses and look at his reasoning. There is no one more prone to cognitive dissonance and propaganda than you. Reason being: Your logic is fallacious. In other words, you are slightly brain damaged.

[pixelprotagonist]

@TheVariableConstant For the task of detecting an aircraft, the impression that we see the whole sky clearly is a cognitive construct - an illusion to provide a seamless model of reality. There are 2 major forms of eye movement: Smooth Tracking (pursuit) and Saccadic Movement (focus). Due to the almost imperceptible movement of aircraft at a distance, detection generally requires the small focus of the fovea to land on the target - a fixation from saccadic movement.

[pixelprotagonist]

@TheVariableConstant Thanks for exploring this further.

A couple of points of clarification:

1. I'm a Human Factors Engineer (I was a commercial pilot when I was younger). We look at the capabilities and limitations of human perception, cognition, behaviour and physiology, then design systems that 'fit' the human operator.

2. As you've correctly pointed out, with only 18 minutes, I didn't have time to explain visual perception in depth.

[NYsalsa101]

This talk needs to go on the main TED channel. Thumbs up if you agree