Each of us at least once experienced a sudden epiphany: all known facts, like puzzle pieces, add up to one big picture that we had not noticed before. The world is not at all what we thought. And a close person is a deceiver. Why do we not notice the obvious facts and believe only what we want to believe?
Insights are associated with unpleasant discoveries: the betrayal of a loved one, the betrayal of a friend, the deception of a loved one. We scroll through the pictures from the past again and again and are perplexed — all the facts were before our eyes, why didn’t I notice anything before? We accuse ourselves of naivety and inattention, but they have nothing to do with it. The reason is in the mechanisms of our brain and psyche.
Clairvoyant brain
The cause of information blindness lies at the level of neuroscience. The brain is faced with a huge amount of sensory information that needs to be processed efficiently. To optimize the process, he constantly designs models of the world around him based on previous experience. Thus, the limited resources of the brain are concentrated on processing new information that does not fit into its model.1.
Psychologists from the University of California conducted an experiment. Participants were asked to remember what the Apple logo looks like. Volunteers were given two tasks: to draw a logo from scratch and choose the correct answer from several options with slight differences. Only one of the 85 participants in the experiment completed the first task. The second task was correctly completed by less than half of the subjects2.
Logos are always recognizable. However, the participants in the experiment were unable to correctly reproduce the logo, despite the fact that most of them actively use Apple products. But the logo so often catches our eye that the brain stops paying attention to it and remembering the details.
We “remember” what is beneficial for us to remember at the moment, and just as easily “forget” inappropriate information.
So we miss important details of personal life. If a loved one is often late at work or travels on business trips, an extra departure or delay does not arouse suspicion. In order for the brain to pay attention to this information and correct its model of reality, something out of the ordinary must happen, while for people from the outside, alarming signals have long been noticeable.
Juggling the facts
The second reason for information blindness lies in psychology. Harvard University psychology professor Daniel Gilbert warns – people tend to manipulate facts in order to maintain their desired picture of the world. This is how the defense mechanism of our psyche works.3. When confronted with conflicting information, we unconsciously prioritize facts that match our picture of the world and discard data that contradicts it.
Participants were told that they did poorly on an intelligence test. After that, they were given the opportunity to read articles on the topic. The subjects spent more time reading articles that questioned not their ability, but the validity of such tests. Articles confirming the reliability of tests, the participants deprived of attention4.
The subjects thought they were smart, so the defense mechanism forced them to focus on data about the unreliability of tests — in order to maintain a familiar picture of the world.
Our eyes literally only see what the brain wants to find.
Once we make a decision—buy a certain brand of car, have a baby, quit our job—we begin to actively study information that strengthens our confidence in the decision and ignore articles that point to weaknesses in the decision. In addition, we selectively extract relevant facts not only from journals, but also from our own memory. We “remember” what is beneficial for us to remember at the moment, and just as easily “forget” inappropriate information.
Rejection of the obvious
Some facts are too obvious to ignore. But the defense mechanism copes with this. Facts are only assumptions that meet certain standards of certainty. If we raise the bar of reliability too high, then it will not even be possible to prove the fact of our existence. This is the trick we use when faced with unpleasant facts that cannot be missed.
Participants in the experiment were shown excerpts from two studies that analyzed the effectiveness of capital punishment. The first study compared crime rates between states that have the death penalty and those that don’t. The second study compared crime rates in one state before and after the introduction of the death penalty. Participants considered more correct the study, the results of which confirmed their personal views. Contradictory Study Criticized by Subjects for Wrong Methodology5.
When the facts contradict the desired picture of the world, we meticulously study them and evaluate them more strictly. When we want to believe in something, a little confirmation is enough. When we do not want to believe, much more evidence is required to convince us. When it comes to turning points in personal life — the betrayal of a loved one or the betrayal of a loved one — the rejection of the obvious grows to incredible proportions. Psychologists Jennifer Freyd (Jennifer Freyd) and Pamela Birrell (Pamela Birrell) in the book «The Psychology of Betrayal and Treason» give examples from personal psychotherapeutic practice when women refused to notice their husband’s infidelity, which took place almost before their eyes. Psychologists called this phenomenon — blindness to betrayal.6.
Path to insight
The realization of one’s own limitations is scary. We literally cannot believe even our own eyes — they only notice what the brain wants to find. However, if we are aware of the distortion of our worldview, we can make the picture of reality more clear and reliable.
Remember — the brain models reality. Our idea of the world around us is a mixture of harsh reality and pleasant illusions. It is impossible to separate one from the other. Our idea of reality is always distorted, even if it looks plausible.
Explore opposing points of view. We cannot change how the brain works, but we can change our conscious behavior. To form a more objective opinion on any issue, do not rely on the arguments of your supporters. Better take a closer look at the ideas of opponents.
Avoid double standards. We intuitively try to justify a person we like or disprove facts we don’t like. Try to use the same criteria when evaluating both pleasant and unpleasant people, events and phenomena.
1 Y. Huang and R. Rao «Predictive coding», Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science, 2011, vol. 2, № 5.
2 A. Blake, M. Nazariana and A. Castela «The Apple of the mind’s eye: Everyday attention, metamemory, and reconstructive memory for the Apple logo», The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 2015, vol. 68, № 5.
3 D. Gilbert «Stumbling on Happiness» (Vintage Books, 2007).
4 D. Frey and D. Stahlberg «Selection of Information after Receiving more or Less Reliable Self-Threatening Information», Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 1986, vol. 12, № 4.
5 C. Lord, L. Ross and M. Lepper «Biased Assimilation and Attitude Polarization: The Effects of. Prior Theories on Subsequently Considered Evidence», Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1979, vol. 37, № 11.
6 J. Freud, P. Birrell «Psychology of betrayal and betrayal» (Peter, 2013).