Confirmation Bias and Cognitive Dissonance

Confirmation Bias - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias

Confirmation bias, also called confirmatory bias or myside bias,[Note 1] is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms one's preexisting beliefs or hypotheses.[1] It is a type of cognitivebias and a systematic error of inductivereasoning. People display this bias when they gather or remember information selectively, or when they interpret it in a biased way. The effect is stronger for emotionally charged issues and for deeply entrenched beliefs.

Cognitive Dissonance - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance

In the field of psychology, cognitive dissonance is the mental discomfort (psychological stress) experienced by a person who simultaneously holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values. This discomfort is triggered by a situation in which a belief of a person clashes with new evidence perceived by that person. When confronted with facts that contradict personal beliefs, ideals, and values, people will find a way to resolve the contradiction in order to reduce their discomfort.

I don't know about the rest of you but I certainly vacillate between the two of these from time to time and definitely in the past 5+ years in dealing with this situation regarding Sunchaser Vacation Villas.

In my opinion it is only normal considering the conflicting information we have received and from whom we received it. Of course we always wanted to believe and trust our attorney – cause that is why you hire an attorney. In this situation though – we didn't have the opportunity to scope out, interview and investigate who we were hiring, that was done without our input.  And even throughout the process when we had doubts and thought of firing him – could we? Or did we feel stuck? Stuck because 1) it would be way too expensive to go on our own and 2) because there came a point of no return when we were all shackled together as the “Geldert Group”. What was our alternative??

So, whether consciously or subconsciously we fell into “Confirmation Bias” - a very comfortable place to be, because don't ya know we are right when we are in "Confirmation Bias" mode, everything we read, everyone we talk to supports our Rightness.  No matter what else was presented to us we looked to each other and our attorney for confirmation that we were on the “high” road and were 100% right. We didn't even want to consider any alternatives to that belief.

Some fell into demonizing the opponent, some blame the judges, the government, the system and even challenging the integrity/motive of each other  – not abnormal considering our attorney was leading the pack on some of those; whether subtly or not so subtly.

Many, at times, when presented with conflicting information started experiencing cognitive dissonance, a very uncomfortable place to find oneself in. A place where you, consciously or subconsciously, want to escape from at all costs. Yes at all costs.

So you stay on the “Hamster Wheel” because it is just way too scary to jump off. You will be alone, what happens if you are wrong and you just needed to stay a little bit longer? Surely your first instinct was correct SURELY!! Seriously this many people can't possibly be wrong/misguided – or can they?

After years of battling and all losses, maybe, just maybe it is time to take a step back and reread everything you have, search for more information, go through the “vortex” of cognitive dissonance and face reality that maybe, just maybe you didn't have all the facts, that you went along with the crowd even though at times a little nagging voice questioned it.

I am not trying to absolve those who were in a position of authority, responsibility and trust to have our best interests in mind. Maybe they could have explained/handled the situation different/better. Maybe our attorney could have come up with some alternate scenarios for us to mitigate our losses. I say maybe but what I really mean – they should have.

We, the people who are paying, are the collateral damage in this corporate/legal tug of war and we have a right to our feelings and a right to express those feelings. But what does demonizing, vilifying the opponent, the attorneys, each other, the justice system, the government agencies accomplish? In my opinion, if there has been any unscrupulous, illegal activity – then we need to find it, report it and have it prosecuted. But personal attacks, in my opinion, only distract from the real issues and discredit those who use those tactics to express their feelings of discontent.

STAND UP and make yourself known – but please stand up on the facts!

BTW I am not encouraging nor advocating for anyone who has signed a Non Disclosure Agreement to breach that agreement and possibly put themselves in harms way. 

 

 The information contained in this blog/video is accurate to the best of my knowledge at the time of posting. I reserve the right to make changes as new information becomes available.

Any and all  information I share is for informational purposes only, not legal advice, as I am not a lawyer, just a lay person sharing information.