According to Goleman, our heuristic thinking can be seen as "the low path" while our critical thinking can be regarded as "the high path". Both paths are useful, since sometimes there is simply not enough time to process "the high path" and we must act according to our "low path", which is still way better than making random mindless decisions.
Honestly, I don't know if the (((really, really dumb))) conspiracy theories such as the one you described are based on the lack of critical thinking, or on the need of some people to try to present themselves as smarter than other at all costs. Some people just don't like anything mainstream and always tend to speak something else, even if it's mindless. I just can't believe that some people have so low critical thinking ability that that is the reason for them to believe in the missile theory or the flat earth...
Cheers!
I think it's a mixture of both a lack of critical thinking and the amount of readily available news that's at our fingertips at any given moment. I am addressing this in the next article, which will kind of be like a twin for this one.
Oh thanks for making me aware of Daniel Goleman by the way, I've just Googled him and he seems interesting, I will check him out. :-)
Cg
You mean, news and "news"?
You're welcome, he's the author of "Emotional intelligence" and "Social Intelligence" (the first book is quite interesting, while the second is a bit too much neuro-technical).
Awesome! Have stuck that one on my Amazon wishlist!
Cg