Cognitive Demagoguery, Philosophical Psychology, Critical Thinking, Information Accuracy, Psychology Studies, Science and Democracy, Bronner 2014
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Abstract
This document explores the concept of cognitive demagoguery, its implications in the field of psychology, and the importance of critical thinking in producing and disseminating truthful information.
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[...] However, not everything is decided during this period. This way of thinking is particularly guilt-inducing for parents of a young child: What if, in just two years, everything is already decided? Would good parenting be useless after this deadline? My developmental psychology courses led me to understand that development is a process that takes place throughout life, following different stages if one adopts a Piagetian perspective. This led me to wonder about the number of partially true information I had memorized until now in the context of my psychology studies, and I felt a certain guilt: What if I had, despite myself, participated in spreading a false idea? [...]
[...] I have considered the extent to which the question of information accuracy is vast, but I have also seen that many people work assiduously on it every day. The exercise of research, particularly in psychology as a young science, is an informational war against cognitive demagoguery . Although the most cunning among us use it as bait to draw the public's attention to increasingly well-argued knowledge. As a future psychologist, I am committed to ensuring that my information is always sourced in order to properly inform myself and properly inform my future patients. Bibliography Mignot, L. [...]
[...] This method, although unpleasant when we realize the deception, seems to exploit our taste for simple and thrilling information. I've also been exposed to it, even with my sensitivity to it thanks to my psychology studies. And that's where Bronner's (2014) response reassures me: All information is partial, since we are limited by our nature. As for our attention and memory capabilities, it's because our brain is sensitive to emotional content that our species has been able to survive for so long. We would be wrong to despise a cognitive process as salvific. [...]
[...] (2014). Valéry Rasplus (dir.), Sciences and Pseudo-Sciences. Human Sciences Perspectives. Lectures. [...]
[...] Our question is, however, more precise since we are focusing on cognitive demagoguery. This concept, created by Bronner in 2014, refers to a demagoguery that is all the more effective as it is appealing to our minds: It involves scientifically shaky inferences that are effective due to their form and our desire to believe them. By way of comparison, one could say that it is fast food for our minds: of mediocre quality, bad for our health, but addictive due to its quick preparation, the beauty of its form, and its composition carefully studied to please us. [...]
