Discovered: Nov 8, 2025 18:14 (UTC) ME:: clearly we know nothing about minds :-) ; Norman, Johnson, van er Linden:: 2024:: Do Minds Have Immune systems? <– QUOTE:: Do minds have immune systems? In this article, we remove several obstacles to treatingthe question in a rigorously scientific way. After giving the hypothesis that minds do have such subsystems a name—we call it mental immune systems theory—we show why it merits serious consideration. The issue hinges on our definition of an immune system, so we examine the definition that currently prevails, demonstrate its shortcomings, and offer an alternative that addresses those shortcomings. We then lay out the empirical evidence that minds really do have immune systems in the specified sense. Findings about psychological inoculation, identity-protective cognition, cognitive dissonance, psycho-logical reactance, information diffusion, and cognitive bias all point to the existence of evolved cognitive defenses—informational “immune systems” that function in much the way that bodily immune systems do. Finally, we discuss the prospects of cognitive immunology, a research program that (a) posits mental immune systems and (b) proceeds to investigate their functioning`

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