Comment on Facts and minds

• MonkRome@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  In my admittedly anecdotal experience I regularly hear people arguing a point I made, that days earlier they were fervently fighting against. Either I’m incredibly persuasive, or I think it’s really just ego. People can’t admit they’re wrong, even if they 100% know you are right. Once they forget they had their ego tied into your argument, they seem to often accept new information.

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• jsomae@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  This I honestly don’t believe in.

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  • moakley@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    It’s true though. It’s about cognitive dissonance. Like actual cognitive dissonance, not the internet buzzword version.

    When our actions and beliefs don’t match up, it makes us uncomfortable. And as much as we’d all love to think we’d change our actions to match our beliefs, the truth about humanity is that we’re just as likely to change our beliefs to match our actions.

    Look at the Ben Franklin effect. Ben Franklin asks for a favor from his enemy, something small like borrowing a book. His enemy lends him the book because it would be impolite not to. Then he experiences dissonance. It makes him uncomfortable that he’s being nice to someone he hates. Instead of not being nice, he lets go of his hate.

    Any outward action you take that suggests a certain belief moves your internal compass towards that belief.

    I’m convinced this is the worst effect that social media has had on society.

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    • jsomae@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      never heard of the ben franklin effect before, neat.

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  • jj4211@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    It at least holds true for a lot of people, and is even enforced in some forms of leadership training. Some folks believe the worst thing is to be perceived as ever being wrong and will push hard against that outcome no matter what.

    If you weakly hold an opinion, it’s more malleable, but you are also unlikely to express that opinion strongly.

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    • jsomae@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Okay I do agree with this, that the fear of being perceived as wrong pushes people to be unmalleable in their opinions. I am not sure I would describe that as “arguing fortifies your emotional stance,” because I think there’s a better explanation of the underlying mechanism as you pointed it out.

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