{"id":3047,"date":"2017-04-17T21:24:20","date_gmt":"2017-04-18T01:24:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/cogblog\/?p=3047"},"modified":"2017-09-06T13:07:21","modified_gmt":"2017-09-06T17:07:21","slug":"handwashing-heliocentrism-and-global-warming-to-reject-or-accept","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/cogblog\/2017\/04\/17\/handwashing-heliocentrism-and-global-warming-to-reject-or-accept\/","title":{"rendered":"Handwashing, Heliocentrism, and Global Warming: To Reject or Accept?"},"content":{"rendered":"

How often do you wash your hands? The Center for Disease Control<\/a> recommends hand washing in numerous scenarios, such as before, during, and after preparing food, before and after tending to someone who is sick, before and after treating a wound, after going to the bathroom, after touching animals, and the list goes on. Now I know it might seem a little ridiculous to wash your hands as often as it is recommended, but I am crossing my fingers that you at least understand why it is necessary. One of the first things we teach our children is to always wash their hands, and how to do so effectively (such as washing for the duration of \u201cRow, Row, Row Your Boat\u201d\u2026 twice). If you don\u2019t believe me when I say hand washing is deep-seated in our modern society, just look at the 3.1 billion dollar market for hand soaps (Nielsen 2016). I, for one, certainly get overwhelmed when I walk down the aisle at my local Target and have to choose between the exhaustive collection of soaps with which I can lather up. And if I don\u2019t find any soap I like then I can make my way over to the various types of hand sanitizers nearby. We can credit Ignaz Semmelweis and his microbial discoveries for the normalization of hand washing in our culture, but can you imagine a world where we didn\u2019t wash our hands? And even stranger \u2013 can you imagine rejecting the science behind it?\u00a0\"\"<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

Semmelweis was one of the most influential doctors in the creation of modern germ theory. His interest in the topic was spiked when he started to theorize why the mortality rate was three times higher when obstetricians preformed child deliveries compared to midwives (Walker and Wilson 2014). His reasoning was that the doctors were contaminated by working with cadavers, and would spread the germs during the delivery process because they did not wash their hands. When he introduced a chlorinated solution for doctors to wash their hands before treating a patient, the mortality rates significantly dropped (Wyklicky and Skopec 1983). Even though there was clear evidence supporting the benefits of hand washing, majority rejected his idea because they firmly believed a man\u2019s hand could do no harm. However, germ theory was not the only scientific result of Semmelweis\u2019 research. Psychologists noticed a cognitive bias, or an error in thinking, in the public\u2019s reaction to his work and aptly named it the Semmelweis Reflex. This reflex is to reject new and sound evidence and research because it conflicts with strongly held beliefs (Fedoroff, Curry, Ranger, et al. 2016).\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This is almost interchangeable with the theory of belief perseverance in psychology. This concept argues that a person is more likely to reject information if it doesn\u2019t align with their own views, and accept information if it does align. While there are three types of belief perseverance, the third type, which focuses on theories and hypotheses most closely, is most similar to the Semmelweis Reflex because it more specifically relates to scientific studies. The other two types of perseverance bias focus on social experiences and personal identity. This belief, while limiting universal process, can also have profound individual effects such as eating disorders and misconstrued ideas of selfhood (Anderson and Lindsay 1998).<\/p>\n

Cognitive psychology studies how information gets processed from the environment and used. It looks at processes such as attention, memory, pattern recognition, categorization and language. Of all the cognitive biases, the Semmelweis reflex occurs most often when presented with too much information. The brain uses this reflex to filter out \u201cuseless\u201d information, and filter in information that pertains to our preconceived ideas and knowledge. We are naturally attracted to the information that confirms these beliefs, and, as per the Semmelweis reflex, tend to ignore the information that contradicts these beliefs. This effect relies on automatic processing, which quickly and effortlessly accepts or rejects the ideas.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Now, you may be wondering why this is important, asides from the introduction of compulsive hand washing in our society of course. In fact, this effect can be seen all throughout history \u2013 both before and after it was first noted in Semmelweis\u2019 process. One of the major examples of this reflex should sound quite familiar \u2013 the argument that Earth rotates around the sun, and that it is not the center of the universe. Heliocentric ideas<\/a> were not fully accepted until after Copernicus popularized the idea, but it had been theorized many years prior by the ancient Greek writer Aristarchus in 270 B.C. Aristarchus had introduced the idea, but it was rejected by many, due in part to the unnoticed Semmelweis reflex.<\/p>\n

This is even more relevant in today’s society where we now have advanced enough\u00a0technology to make important scientific discoveries.\u00a0If you go onto NASA\u2019s website<\/a>, you will see in bold letters atop of a long list of facts, \u201cScientific consensus: Earth’s climate is warming.\u201d\u00a0Trust me \u2013 its there. Why is it then, that a couple clicks away on another government website<\/a> you find Senator James Inhofe, climate change denier, saying, \u201cIt is mystifying that some people blithely assert that the science of global warming is settled.\u201d\u00a0Without getting into the political reasoning behind the denial of climate change, which there are arguably many, this separation of views can scientifically be explained by the\u00a0effect the Semmelweis Reflex. People are rejecting scientific proof because it does not align with their own beliefs, and applied top-down mental processing.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Semmelweis reflex can often be confused with stubbornness and close-mindedness, but should simply\u00a0be seen as one of the mind’s first defenses against the overwhelming amount of information in this world. The key to progress and pushing society forward is to control this reflex and be able to look past cognitive biases at large in order to accept what we might not first instinctively believe. So next time, after\u00a0washing your hands and\u00a0arguing about climate change, think about what else you might be ignoring and rejecting simply because it doesn’t fit your world views.<\/p>\n

References<\/p>\n

Anderson, C. A., & Lindsay, J. J. (1998). The development, perseverance, and change of naive theories. Social Cognition, 16, 8-30.<\/p>\n

\n
Experimentation Platform. (n.d.). Retrieved April 17, 2017, from http:\/\/www.exp-platform.com\/Pages\/SemmelweisReflex.aspx<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Fedoroff, J.P., Curry, S., Ranger, R. et al. Arch Sex Behav (2016) 45: 1869. doi:10.1007\/s10508-016- 0786-3<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Inhofe, J. M. (n.d.). The Facts and Science of Climate Change<\/i> (United States., Congress., Senate.).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
International Space Hall of Fame :: New Mexico Museum of Space History :: Inductee Profile. (n.d.). Retrieved April 17, 2017, from http:\/\/www.nmspacemuseum.org\/halloffame\/detail.php?id=123<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
Shaftel, H., & Tenenbaum, L. (Eds.). (2017, April 10). Global Climate Change; Vital Signs of the Planet. Retrieved April 17, 2017, from https:\/\/climate.nasa.gov\/scientific-consensus\/<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Statistic Brain Research Institute. (2016, February 02). Soap Industry Statistics. Retrieved April 17, 2017, from http:\/\/www.statisticbrain.com\/soap-industry-statistics\/<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Understanding the Semmelweis Reflex. (n.d.). Retrieved April 17, 2017, from http:\/\/iqsresearch.com\/understanding-the-semmelweis-reflex\/<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Walker, D. A. and Wilson, P. (2014), Learning from Semmelweis: engaging in sensible infection control. Anaesthesia, 69: 807\u2013810. doi:10.1111\/anae.12771<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Wash Your Hands. (2017, April 10). Retrieved April 17, 2017, from https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/features\/handwashing\/<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Wyklicky, H., &amp; Skopec, M. (1983). Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis, the Prophet of Bacteriology. Infection Control, 4(5), 367-370. Retrieved from http:\/\/www.jstor.org.colby.idm.oclc.org\/stable\/30142576<\/a><\/div>\n

\u00a0Images (in order of appearance)<\/p>\n

https:\/\/giphy.com\/gifs\/wash-acMgS2BDhNh3q<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/media1.britannica.com\/eb-media\/92\/164992-004-862BA48C.jpg<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com\/736x\/f0\/3e\/cc\/f03eccf58b04f52c28cc9dec7b2c40f3.jpg<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/littlegreenfootballs.com\/weblog\/img\/criticaldragon1177\/2016\/04\/16\/Trump_China_Climate_Change.JPG<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How often do you wash your hands? The Center for Disease Control recommends hand washing in numerous scenarios, such as before, during, and after preparing food, before and after tending to someone who is sick, before and after treating a wound, after going to the bathroom, after touching animals, and the list goes on. Now […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6974,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[266316,130416,60348],"tags":[119834,266291],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/cogblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3047"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/cogblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/cogblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/cogblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6974"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/cogblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3047"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/cogblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3047\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3760,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/cogblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3047\/revisions\/3760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/cogblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/cogblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/cogblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}