Warning! There is some fairly technical language in this article that will probably have you reaching for your dictionary or surfing the wikipedia. What the article seems to say is that when we are left to our own devices, we make up our minds about what we believe, gather information to support that belief and routinely dismiss information that contradicts our belief. In short, we believe what we want to believe.
Why do we do that? I think it might be because we all want to do what we want to do. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on your perspective, we have learned to do what is right. As my sister used to say, we are all born into innate depravity. As we grow up most of us are taught 'right from wrong'. When something comes along that we want to do, we feel we have to justify it in our minds. The hippies used to say, if it feels good do it. For most of us that doesn't work. We have to 'feel' that it is the right thing to do. So we gather the information that supports our belief, dismiss the nonsupportive information, believe what we want to believe and then do what we want to do.
Some times this works out OK, other times it brings disaster.
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