They studied two different groups of people—381 in the first sample and 417 in a second batch to try to replicate their results. They gave the first sample a survey that tested how conservative or liberal their political beliefs were. Radicalism exists on both ends of the spectrum; the people at the furthest extremes of left and right are considered “radical.”
After taking the questionnaire, the first group did a simple test: they looked at two different clusters of dots and quickly identified which group had more dots. Then they rated how confident they were in their choice.
People with radical political opinions completed this exercise with pretty much the same accuracy as moderate participants. But “after incorrect decisions, the radicals were less likely to decrease their confidence,” Fleming says.
Unlike political beliefs, which often have no right or wrong answer per se, one group of dots was unquestionably more numerous than the other. But regardless of whether or not there was an objective answer, the radicals were more likely to trust their opinion was correct than to question whether they might have gotten it wrong.
“But regardless of whether or not there was an objective answer, the radicals were more likely to trust their opinion was correct than to question whether they might have gotten it wrong.”
That attitude has generally been known in society as “bull-headedness” or being a horse’s ass.
Usually extreme views are emotion-fed, at least to some degree. It’s hard to analyze the “thinking” behind them because, to the extent it exists, it is tangled up in illogical, irrational, emotional response.
The purpose of Marxism and the Democrat party is to destroy the concept of right and wrong.
The only evil is the idea of evil.
Snowflakes don’t like to be challenged. They know you’re wrong. They know they’re right. This is sort of cultural trend created by political correctness and the indoctrination in the public schools where divergent thinking is not welcome. So I expect extremism to continue.
I recognize that this stuff happens on the Right as well, but I really think we have fewer True Believers.
Just like the guy who wrote the article.
Entrenchment leads to deeper entrenchment, left or right.
[[[“Widening polarization about political, religious, and scientific issues threatens open societies, leading to entrenchment of beliefs, reduced mutual understanding, and a pervasive negativity surrounding the very idea of consensus,” the researchers write.]]]
Describes the modern left perfectly. The left drives the polarization. The leftist media to be exact. The left is through arguing policy. They just want you to sit down and shut up now.
In other words, they actually can’t question their own ideas.
That fits the left to a tee their ideas are like their children no matter how bad they are they still love them.
Extremism is in the eye of the beholder.