He theorises that it may be safest to err on the side of gullibility. "If you
miss the tiger hidden in the grass, then you are dead. If you always see
tigers, you are always running away but you're not dead."

I meant to post something on this ages ago ...
The new scientist magazine had a special series of srticles on the
"science of belief" - well worth reading. One article in particular was
about sheep vs goats and why faithful sheepism shows no sign of
disapearing as a human behaviour - no matter how much it annoys us
skeptical goats.
Sheep tend to see meaning and patterns where there is none - but they
are also primed to spot actual patterns a little quicker than goats.
(28 Jan 2006 edition.)
<quote>
Psychologists have traditionally viewed this quality as a shortcoming
on the part of sheep. But Peter Brugger, a neuroscientist at the
University Hospital Zurich in Switzerland, does not think it is a
black-and-white issue. He explains that people commit what
statisticians call a type 1 error when they perceive a pattern where
none exists - when they are overly gullible, in other words. A type 2
error is when they fail to recognise a pattern that does exist - when
they are too sceptical. Brugger points out that pattern recognition is
an important aspect of human cognition, allowing us to recognise
familiar faces or camouflaged predators. "From an evolutionary
perspective, the price for protection against type 2 errors is a
susceptibility to type 1 errors," Brugger says. He theorises that it
may be safest to err on the side of gullibility. "If you miss the tiger
hidden in the grass, then you are dead. If you always see tigers, you
are always running away but you're not dead."

What determines our tendency to spot patterns and form associations? It
turns out that a key factor is the relative dominance of the right and
left hemispheres of the brain. There has been much dubious pop
psychology written about the differences between "right-brain people"
and "left-brain people". But most neuroscientists would accept that the
left side of the brain is primarily responsible for language and
logical analysis, while the right side is more involved in creativity
and what might be called lateral thinking - making connections between
disparate concepts.
<unquote>

Very good article.
So as with just about everything in this world being a little bit
gullible or a little bit skeptical can be benificial - while too much
of either can be a bad thing.


Mark.