Quel suprise — we prefer to hear the things we already believe than the things that we don’t. Study: choir prefers being preached to by 2:1 margin – Ars Technica
Analysis of the studies shows that people are almost two times more likely to select information that is congenial to their current beliefs and behaviors than they are to pick information that opposes them. That is to say, when offered material containing views that were contrary to their beliefs (either in article or broadcast form), people had only a one-in-three chance of taking a closer look at that information.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the bias against conflicting views was exaggerated when the information concerned political, religious, or ethical issues. Also in the “no surprise” department was the finding that individuals with close-minded personalities selected information that is aligned with their views 75 percent of the time (for more typical people, the number was 67 percent). The study also found that people who are unsure of their beliefs are actually more likely to avoid conflicting views.
No big surprises here. “Question everything” is a valuable long-term cognitive strategy, but probably not as helpful for sort-term survival (“Do we really need to fear lions in every case? Let’s consider that a moment …”). We can afford to question a lot of stuff these days, but we’ve got a lot of evolutionary and cultural inertia to overcome.
Besides, the euphoria of a new discovery aside, questioning or confronting possible chinks in your beliefs isn’t easy. It’s uncomfortable, even painful. There’s a sense of shame (“If I change my mind on this, then everything I’ve said about the subject previously shows me to be a fool.”). There’s fear (“What will my friends and family think?” “I understand my current position; there may be ramifications of this new possibility I haven’t considered?”). And there can be hard work involved (“Wait, if I respect the dignity of every living thing … that means I can’t eat veal?” “But I have all sorts of friends in this particular group, which I’m going to lose if I stop/start believing X … which means I’ll need to find new friends!”). That makes it all tough to face hard facts about your faith, or your philosophy, or your relationship, or your politics.
On the other hand, hearing people say stuff that you believe already feels good. It confirms your intelligence, that the stuff you’re saying and doing is smart and correct. It makes life easier, at least in the short run. It avoids conflict. It nurtures rather than confronts, encourages rather than frightens.
But if that’s the case, how do we ever learn to change our mind? Are we doomed to ignorance or intellectional / cognitive stagnation?
Fear not. Being Socratically brave and determined in the face of all the above factors isn’t the only way to pursue truth and reality. Sooner or later we change our mind …
… when too many of the clear premises of our belief get knocked out. (“You said we should listen to you because you’re X and Y happened to you … but it turns out you’re not X, and Y was just rhetoric, not reality.”)
… when the results of our belief are too discordant. (“We keep trying X to cause Y, but only Z ever seems to happen!”)
… when enough counter-examples hit our attention. (“I was always taught that X people are Y … but my neighbors are X, and my coworkers are X, and this person I was reading a book by turned out to be X — and none of them are Y!”)
It’s a long, painful (to all sides) and uncertain process, but I think it does happen, sooner or later. Most people don’t accept slavery of blacks by whites any more. Most people I know don’t (openly) think of women as chattel, or Jews as Christ-killers, or Irish as drunks, or Japanese as inscrutable, or Catholics as disloyal Papists, or adulterers as deserving of stoning, or that the only good Indian is a dead Indian. Many people I know (and most people I respect) don’t think of gays as pedophiliac hedonist Satanists out to corrupt our precious bodily fluids, or that Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Ladin were co-conspirators for 9-11. Time marches on. People, in aggregate, do change — usually (I like to think) for the better.
I just wish, too often, that it were easier. For me, if nobody else. I like to think that I can face the truth unafraid and with boldness — but I know I’m as prone to be selective about what I care to hear as anyone else.