The Irrational Ape: Why Flawed Logic Puts us all at Risk and How Critical Thinking Can Save the World

by David Robert Grimes

Kahan’s body of research lays waste to the idea that an information deficit is the reason for disagreement on issues of science and technology, or of policy and evidence. Rather, it suggests that ideological motivations skew our very ability to reason. But why might this be the case? Kahan’s theory is that people have a propensity to engage in identity-protective cognition: ‘As a way of avoiding dissonance and estrangement from valued groups, individuals subconsciously resist factual information that threatens their defining values.’ We do not separate our beliefs from ourselves – to some extent our beliefs define us. Accordingly, it is a major psychological imperative to protect this idea of who we are, and our relationships with those who share the same ideas and world-views as us. We find it immensely difficult to differentiate our ideas from our sense of self – and too often, this condemns us to clutch at wrong-headed positions with dogmatic zeal, unwilling to countenance alternatives lest they threaten our very identity.