Connect the Dots

Most human phenomena are extremely complex. Psychology may try to attach names to these, and operationalize different constructs, but psychological research merely provides us with a partial picture of possible relationships among variables. Good research reporting, after all, entails emphasizing that results are by no means conclusive about the how phenomena come about on a general scale, as the research was conducted within a certain context and among particular participants who might share certain characteristics. Occasionally, this research is reported in more reader-friendly formats, and we get titles like, "Does studying science make you a better person?" that may lead people to jump to sweeping generalizations about the group of people concerned. Thankfully, such articles still report how the research was conducted, and critical readers will get the chance to make conclusions for themselves based on the findings and the methodology.

Most unfortunate though, is the propagation of misinformation in popular media, where conclusions are not always founded on scientific evidence or even logical thinking. The past month has given us two very concrete examples of this, in the issues of homophobic parenting and the tragic UP Manila suicide. Yes, I know this is a little late, but it took a while for me to synthesize these events that gained much media coverage. What these two have in common is irresponsible journalism and the human tendency to jump to conclusions. I'd like to focus a little more on the latter.

One proposition comes from the Gestalt psychologists, the guys (yes, most, if not all of them are guys) with whom we associate with the cliche, "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts." These psychologists were particularly bent on talking about how our minds organize information, and they proposed certain patterns with which we do so. One law that they came up with was the Law of Pragnanz, which basically says that humans have a tendency to stick to the simplest, most concise, symmetrical and complete explanations for our experiences (Ormrod, 2012).

The Law of Pragnanz: We see five circles instead of a series of complicated shapes. Simple, concise, symmetrical. 

Image from http://blog.ocad.ca/wordpress/gdes1b26-fw2009-01/?cat=227

Another possible explanation comes from Nobel Laureate, Daniel Kahneman (2010), who wrote the book Thinking, Fast and Slow to discuss how our minds work within two systems: the instinctive and emotional System 1, and the rational and deliberate System 2. Because we were designed for efficiency, System 1 often takes charge of the initial information processing, unless we believe it to warrant greater analysis and interpretation. Unfortunately, in this day and age where we are bombarded with so much information, we choose to take mental shortcuts because it's just so much faster and there's just too much to process.

So with these human tendencies for simplicity and efficiency, we have quick conclusions that the environment (i.e., child-rearing methods) can "correct" any gay tendencies, and a forced leave of absence can cause a suicide. In the process, we fail to recognize that there are so many more layers in between, that human phenomena result from the complex interplay of variables. A one-to-one correspondence of cause and effect is rarely the case.

Sources:

Kahneman, D. (2010). Thinking, fast and slow. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Ormrod, J.E. (2012). Human Learning (6^th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.