How to correctly manage information

By Mochtar Buchori

JAKARTA (JP): Information can either be a blessing or a curse. If we can manage, process, and digest most of the information available to us, then information is a powerful source for progress. But if we do not possess such an ability, information is just a source of confusion and frustration.

Screening information is one of the first steps toward information management. This is because not all information contains the truth. A lot of information is either partially wrong or entirely false. What has been termed as "misinformation" and "disinformation" refers to false information that can mislead and confuse society.

"Misinformation" is wrong or inaccurate information which can deliberately mislead people. And "disinformation" can be interpreted as false information which deliberately makes people doubt the validity of information that contains the "real truth".

How do we know whether information is truthful, or whether it is misinformation or disinformation? If contradictory pieces of information are provided to us on one issue, which one are we going to believe?

We rarely give this much thought. We tend to accept or believe information which is compatible with our basic belief system, and reject information we consider incompatible with that system. In some cases we cannot accept or reject information that confronts us. We are confused and indecisive.

What shapes "our basic belief system" which makes us "biased" in evaluating information is a mystery to most of us. This "personal bias" notwithstanding, most of us invest considerable effort to guard the credibility of our personal basic belief system. Most of us do our utmost not to become the target of ridicule because of what we choose to believe or disbelieve. We do our best to ensure that our personal beliefs are justifiable and sensible. This urges us to be consistent in our judgments.

According to Professor James Alcock of Glendon College in Toronto, Canada, we make our judgments on the basis of a pattern within our belief systems which we have learned and acquired during our development. In most modern societies, according to Alcock, two belief systems are systematically introduced to the young generation, i.e. the scientific-humanist belief system, and the transcendental belief system.

The first is allied with intellectual learning processes, during which children are taught to value logical and critical thinking. The second is tied to automatic, intuitive experiential learning processes, during which children are taught to turn off analytical skills, and accept ideas on the basis of faith or experience.

Most of us in modern societies have been brought up in an environment with this contradiction. We have been taught to ask questions, to analyze, to apply logic in one belief system, and to accept transcendental beliefs that defy logic in the other. We think logically in one aspect of life, and intuitively in another. But most of us learn when to use our logic and when to push logic aside and accept information on the basis of the authority of its sources.

I think we follow this same behavioral pattern whenever we screen information in our daily lives. In certain cases we use our logic, but in other cases we follow our "intuition" or experience. This can lead us towards a conflict situation. It is possible that in a given situation our common sense says that the information is not acceptable, but our "feeling" or "intuition" says that it is risky to bluntly reject that particular piece of information. We are then in a conflict situation. What do we do?

Usually our transcendental belief system will prompt us to "accept" such information, at least nominally. When this happens our utterances do not always conform with our true beliefs or "feelings". We then become hypocritical or cynical. In short, we "reluctantly believe" that given piece of information, because we are afraid not to.

If a piece of information lies within the realm of the "scientific-humanist" belief system, we accept or reject the information on the basis of our reason. Professor Loren Fishman of Albert Einstein Medical College, New York City, said we do not believe something just because we want to believe it. "We believe because we have found sufficient ground of explicit persuasion," he said. Belief must be earned. And this is the reason why we always try to defend our beliefs whenever they are challenged.

So what is the relationship between belief, feeling, and intuition?

According to Fishman, "being intuitive" means we are not yet able to demonstrate sufficient grounds of explicit persuasion. Intuitions are feelings that have cognitive content. And he says, "intuitions are cerebral phenomena, at times non-linguistic, at times not self-conscious, but not necessarily irrational." Within intuition rational deductions work in conjunction with hunches --educated guesses or "gut feelings" -- not readily put into the framework. Alcock calls it "experientially derived knowledge".

Intuition can be the basis for rejecting or accepting information. There are occasions in our life when we "feel" that information is not acceptable. Even though we are not able to prove why, our "feeling" says that it just can't be true. On the other hand, there are occasions in which our intuition urges us to follow information, even though we are not able to demonstrate its truth. Only at a later stage do we discover that our intuition leads us in that direction. There are cases in real life where intuition is the only available guide to action. We must note, however, that intuition can be very wrong when we deal with subject matter far removed from everyday life.

Is there any lesson we can draw from this analysis? It is that we should not be afraid to use our reason and intuition in screening information, that we should be wise in expressing our judgment, and that we should know when our reason and intuition are no longer our best guide. It is better to be occasionally wrong and temporarily indecisive rather than eternally hypocritical or cynical.

The writer is an observer of social and cultural affairs.