Randomly, I’ve heard the phrase “spin-doctoring” used a couple of times this week in two different contexts and it’s been sitting on my mind like random things do when they appear to pop up more than once in a short space of time.
We all know what’s meant in political terms when events are viewed with a certain slant in order to benefit whichever party is using the situation to illustrate a point, but did you realise you’re a very talented spin doctor yourself?
As human beings, we’re always trying to make sense of things around us, and when there is no satisfactory explanation, we’ll tend to make one up.
In the 1960’s research was carried out into a treatment for patients suffering from epilepsy. They had their corpus callosum severed in the hope that it would reduce seizures. The corpus callosum is a bundle of nerves that connects both hemispheres in your brain.
Interesting fact you might not know is that your right eye feeds information to your left hemisphere and your left eye to your right.
In an undamaged brain, your left and right hemispheres chat to each other happily all day long, but obviously in the case of the research patients they could not, and the researchers found an incredible insight into how we can make up stories to give a spin on the circumstances we find ourselves in.
In the experiment (which I am paraphrasing from my hypnotherapy teacher) the patients were asked to cover one eye and read an instruction that said “Go to the kitchen”.
When they were in the kitchen they were asked to cover a different eye and read a sign that said “Why are you in this room?”
In response to the second question, the patients had no recollection of reading the sign that said, “Go to the kitchen” and instead said something like “I came in here because I was thirsty and I needed a drink”.
I find that absolutely fascinating!
When we find ourselves doing things we can’t explain, we make up a story that seems about right.
Of course, there are all sorts of things that come into play here like confirmation bias, where we have a tendency to favour information that confirms or supports our prior beliefs or values.
People are more likely to remember and pay attention to information that confirms their existing beliefs, and they are more likely to discount or ignore information that contradicts them. This can lead to a distorted view of reality, as people may become increasingly entrenched in their beliefs, even if they are not well-founded.
Have you ever thought about how you are spin-doctoring yourself?
It might be worth considering, because entrenched beliefs could be holding you back.