The confirmation bias red flag is the tendency of someone to believe or search for information that is in favour or confirms their pre-existing beliefs.

Connection: 

The venn diagram illustrates how the confirmation bias works in that we tend to find information that only falls in line with what our opinions are about certain topics and this information is exclusive of other information that is out of line or contrary to our beliefs. The unshaded circle to the left displays “objective facts” that do not fall in line with our beliefs, so these facts are ignored. The circle to the right indicates what we believe as the truth and the point where both circles intersect is the biased information that we seek that confirms our beliefs or opinions.

The Appeal to Authority red flag is when someone or a group that exhibits more power or sovereignty promotes a certain credibility that affects one’s perception.

 

The article linked within this post refers to what is known as the “Milgram Experiment”. The Milgram Experiment was conducted in order to see the limits of people harming each other based off an order given from an authoritative persona. As the experiment progresses, the harm being carried out appears to be getting exponentially worse. However, participants were influenced by the authoritative personality that this was just part of the process and there was nothing to worry about. In this case, the participants should learn to think for themselves and act based on their beliefs, rather than the authoritative personality. If the harm that the authoritative personality says is fine, yet it appears to significantly affecting another, the participant should exhibit skepticism and question the words with their observations.

The Ancient Wisdom red flag is the ideology that sciences and knowledge from significantly dated examples of history are accurate and more efficient than modern sciences and knowledge, despite having better understanding of these topics currently.

 

Bloodletting is an ancient medical practice that had no merits other than what could be described as a placebo effect when it was originally performed. It is true that we have now come to know that bloodletting can be useful for certain diseases however it is not recommended for any other use than that. In the article, the bloodletting business appeals to the ancient wisdom by exclaiming the same logic behind why bloodletting was done more than 2000 years ago. One should exercise necessary doubt and skepticism when contemplating this matter.  

The red flag, ideological support, refers to the political, cultural or religious beliefs or body of ideas that are supported by a group or an individual. Some people take a stand to support logical ideals while others take a stand to support illogical ideals.

The picture below illustrates a Jehovah’s Witness preaching about Jehovah (the Creator of all things) at the door of a person’s house. During this visit, the Jehovah’s witness is trying to spread his or her religious beliefs. Jehovah’s witnesses usually engage in public door to door distribution of their beliefs and they proclaim views or truths about Jehovah. This is connected to the ideological support red flag because these witnesses are affiliated all across the world and travel to different doorsteps sharing their claims about Jehovah (religious beliefs) in the form of pamphlets and bible studies hoping to recruit more individuals.

Mystical energy red flag relates to not actual energy, but an unobservable force that claims to be responsible for many things. A good example of mystical energy is chi or chakra.

 

In this article, the mystical energy of chi is addressed. The article goes in depth about how this energy can be used to prevent illnesses. They do make it a point to say it is “harder” for chi to remedy illnesses, but they do not outright deny that it can. This kind of thinking can be dangerous when applying it to actual illnesses. There is no scientific confirmation of such a force as chi existing. On top of that, the article is riddled with ads for books and magazines that focus on mystical energy. Mystical energy is being used for monetary gain. 

Patternicty is the unintentional action of a person finding a pattern that actually does not exist, that is, seeing something that is not actually there.

This picture below is a common example of patternicity because people who look at clouds are able to decipher images, potentially related to things that happened recently in their lives. These patterns are often linked to recent life occurrences because another person would not be able to clearly find that same pattern. For example, a person who just experienced the death of a loved one might easily interpret these clouds as the face of their loved one and take it as a sign from the heavens when in reality, it is just the formation of the clouds.

An emotional connection refers to the bond between two people, that is, the strong feelings that human beings experience. These emotions are strong enough to skew our logical thought process and make us believe things that are not true.

The article is connected to the emotional connection reason of belief because it is a clear example of an individual being exploited because of the strong feelings he had for another woman. Nial Rice gave away more than 718000 because the psychics vowed to reunite him with the woman he loved. Nial’s emotions made him gullible to the point where he was convinced that if he didn’t pay her for the work that the psychic was doing for him, bad things would happen. It was almost like an addiction.

The reason for belief; unexplained relates to observations that happen with no logical or clear explanation and one’s lack of understanding of what had been witnessed/happened leads to this being a reason for belief.

 

Within this website lies various ghost stories- events shrouded in mystery with no explanation. Although they might be fabricated, if you were to take the perspective of believing in them, the unexplained reason for belief comes into play. Events happening with no immediate logical conclusion. Using the haunting Ariana Grande experienced in this website, if you approach it from a different perspective, you may be able to explain the faces in the picture away with patternicity, and the friend that had the same experience as her was primed to believe something like that would happen so her dreams were affected.