Carol Tavris at TAM 2011

Social psychologist and author Carol Tavris on "Dissent and Dissonance: The Science and Art of Argument."

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[SurviveCollapse]

What a superb presentation. Carol Davis sums up exactly how critical thinkers/atheists/skeptics or whatever name you want to use, should react to each other, with respect, understanding and appreciation that there ARE others in the world who aren't bat-shit crazy.

[haberstr]

Greece has little to do with extreme ideologies, it's essentially a non-ideological theft by and for the financier class. Those opposing the destruction of Greece so that it can pay off international bankers mostly just want their country to practice middle-of-the-road 'normal' 1950s Keynesian economics. Because the opposite is taking place, Greece is in an economic downturn much deeper than its Great Depression, with plans to make that worse and then worse again.

[Rebecca White]

But maybe your thought processes do the same. I'm not a believer, but who am I to say that people who say they have had this experience with what they call God are the inadequate ones? Just because you haven't seen it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. I think we're all pretty much enslaved to what we've experienced, what we're afraid of, and what we want to be true. No atheists have ever said anything that I've heard that didn't expose their own biases.

[Mychael Darklighter]

this is effin' great. so sensible. really, 'skeptics' + science-minded people ought to be the *most* humble, the quickest to examine their *own* beliefs. and above all, there's never reason not to be kind + civil to each other.

[Mychael Darklighter]

so THIS is why every film noir ever!

slippery slope, people! =0P

[gpwnedable]

A: when the expressor is anonymous;

B: when the message can be sent impulsively

C: when there are no consequences for the sender.

Bingo!

[Ben Clark]

Her whole talk makes so much sense. After having a few talks with people that I considered very smart on their religious views I found that if I wanted to maintain the conversation for long and not get infuriated with what I considered stupid shortcomings in their reasoning I had to consider that what they believed on the subject somehow was clouding how their thought process functioned around that subject.

[kauaiskeptic]

That was fantastic! Thank you!

[KillaTequilla83]

Its unfortunate that the internet is becoming one of the greatest boons to confirmation bias ever. Google, yahoo and facebook filter results to suit your preferences, which I find insulting. I love how information is so accessible (despite certain legislation to put a cap on it) but the confirmation bubbles it creates for us I think is one of the reasons we have so many vocal, extreme ideologies and such a wedge between them. Just look at Greece! That's going to be the US if we dont change.

[Arkalius80]

That kind of thing usually takes time. You're unlikely to change their mind over the course of a single conversation. Ultimately it's up to them to find their way around the barriers their own cognitive dissonance throws up against them.

[O2BSoLucky]

How lucky we are to have this repository of knowledge accessible where ever a free computer and phone line may be!

Before the internet how hard it must have been to get to information that may not have been 'approved' by the locals and in the local library - kids these days - you got it good ;-)