Sterling Terrell

recovering economist

Are You Twisting Observed Facts?

Are You Twisting Observed Facts?
[This is part of the series: 31 Persuasion Tips That I Learned From Scott Adams]

Our perception of observed facts is not as simple as it should be.

For instance, we observe and record facts X and Y, right?

Right.

But how do we explain these “facts?”

We explain them through the filter of our worldview.

And immediately, our cognitive bias take over.

Said differently, we see what we want to see, and often filter out the rest with simple explanation.

And is our visual perception even an accurate picture of reality to begin with? (Watch the video in this link!)

Maybe. But, maybe not.

This is not a simple issue.

Maybe reality just predicts the future?

PERSUASION TIP 7: It is easy to fit completely different explanations to the observed facts. Don’t trust any interpretation of reality that isn’t able to predict.
-Scott Adams, Win Bigly

The Massive Power Of Visual Persuasion

The Massive Power Of Visual Persuasion
Visual Persuasion is powerful on a scale you can not imagine.

Honestly, this video still messes with my head.

I have watched it no less than ten times, and I still can’t exactly understand what I am looking at.

The point here, however, is that the larger implications of this are huge.

If you see X, it does not matter what you hear – X is all there is.

Your visual perception literally overrules that which conflicts.

This is a great example of how visual persuasion is more powerful than auditory persuasion. Our visual sense changes what we are hearing in real time, even when we know the illusion.
-Scott Adams, Win Bigly (Amazon).

It’s called the McGurk effect.

And if you think marketers and politicians are not using this to their advantage, you are just crazy.

Sterling Terrell