Comment on Facts and minds
jsomae@lemmy.ml 3 months agoThis I honestly don’t believe in.
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.
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.
moakley@lemmy.world 3 months 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.
jsomae@lemmy.ml 3 months ago
never heard of the ben franklin effect before, neat.