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Synecdoche: A Cognitive Weakness in Small Circle Thinking, Where a Part is Easily Switched for a Whole, or a Whole is Easily Switched for a Part
SDCT0013: Small circle thinkers, the kinds of minds that are most attracted to the small circle far right edge of the political spectrum, tend to focus on individual units of information, and not on complex groups, interrelated factors, or systems of information. As a result, small circle thinkers often don’t recognize that there’s a critical difference between the parts and the whole of a complex political issue, and so they may substitute a part for the whole.
They might, for example, reject the entire FBI Special Counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, based on a single, tangential issue, a deflection or “red herring,” such as the FISA application for Carter Page, or the FBI’s routine use of a confidential informant. They would be judging a massive whole based on a tiny part.
Small circle thinkers may also base their voting on single issues rather than weighing the entire package of a candidate’s political positions. They would tend to form opinions based on individual factors, and draw hasty generalizations and inaccurate stereotypes from excessively small samples of information.
This episode explores some of the weaknesses of the synecdochic small circle mind, focusing on its vulnerability to political manipulation.
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By Daniel DodgeSDCT0013: Small circle thinkers, the kinds of minds that are most attracted to the small circle far right edge of the political spectrum, tend to focus on individual units of information, and not on complex groups, interrelated factors, or systems of information. As a result, small circle thinkers often don’t recognize that there’s a critical difference between the parts and the whole of a complex political issue, and so they may substitute a part for the whole.
They might, for example, reject the entire FBI Special Counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, based on a single, tangential issue, a deflection or “red herring,” such as the FISA application for Carter Page, or the FBI’s routine use of a confidential informant. They would be judging a massive whole based on a tiny part.
Small circle thinkers may also base their voting on single issues rather than weighing the entire package of a candidate’s political positions. They would tend to form opinions based on individual factors, and draw hasty generalizations and inaccurate stereotypes from excessively small samples of information.
This episode explores some of the weaknesses of the synecdochic small circle mind, focusing on its vulnerability to political manipulation.