Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Acid Test on Point of Views


Referring to my previous entry, Point of Views, I mentioned that could we devise an acid test to see how our point of views would change (or wouldn't) if the scenario changed. This could help us (and help myself too) identify how impartial we are, or help identify that in reality, there is a certain amount of expectations shaping our reactions and like Mukmin mentioned : the mind forms a logical structure of those who read the comments, as long as they feel the same or similar "pain" or "are in the same wavelength" and when there's more of the same wavelength comments the mind tricks you to think "It must be true!"

Let's take the original article, Malaysia ranked 12th most business-friendly country: World Bank and test out the acid test I'm devising on the fly after much thought and ponder.

  1. When you first ONLY read the TITLE of the article, how did you FIRST react
    1. That's good news
    2. Great news, even world bank acknowledges Malaysia is taking steps to improve!
    3. What a joke.
    4. Cannot be la, maybe someone bribed World Bank to give us good rankings.
    5. Let me read the whole article.
  2. Did you read the whole article?
    1. Yes
    2. No
    3. Scanned thru
  3. Did you google / search for the original World Bank article to understand the parameters used?
    1. Yes
    2. No
  4. Now, imagine if the headlines read " Malaysia's ranking has DROPPED in most business-friendly country: World Bank". How would you react
    1. That just one indicator, rest show we are doing good.
    2. Can't trust World Bank, they have their propaganda
    3. Expected 
    4. What a joke, it's confirmed even by World Bank that Malaysia is screwing up.
    5. Let me read thru the whole article.


So here's my thoughts, if Mr X chose
  •  1.2 and 4.2 : Mr X is contradicting himself. For something Mr X wants to hear, the news is good and World Bank is a reliable source. But when the report is negative, somehow World Bank became untrustworthy.
  • 1.4 & 4.4 : Very much same as above assessment wouldn't you agree?
  • 1.1 & 4.1 OR 1.3 & 4.3 - might have a level of inclination already, and usually sees what they want to see. 
  • For all the above, I'm guessing mostly Mr X wouldn't have read the whole news article. 
How about the other combinations? How many actually read the actual World Bank report?

How would you assess if Mr X chose 1.2 & 4.4 or 1.1 & 4.3? My thoughts? I would think they have the least preset of assumptions and expectations before reading the articles. Or maybe they managed to separate reactions from expectations.

Well, let's call the above the Lukman Iqbal Impartiality Acid Test V1.

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