The most heated arguments often occur between people on opposite ends of the spectrum, but the most frequent learning occurs from people who are nearby. Article. The New Yorker may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. At any given moment, a field may be dominated by squabbles, but, in the end, the methodology prevails. (This, it turned out, was also a deception.) Ozan Varol. In step three, participants were shown one of the same problems, along with their answer and the answer of another participant, who’d come to a different conclusion. She didn’t know why, but she picked up a pencil next to her bed and started writing. We run the risk of losing social ties if we abandon their convictions. Many months ago, I was getting ready to publish it and what happens? In the other version, Frank also chose the safest option, but he was a lousy firefighter who’d been put “on report” by his supervisors several times. When it comes to changing people's minds, it is very difficult to jump from one side to another. Why Facts don't Change our Mind? Why don't facts change our minds? If the goal is to actually change minds, then I don't believe criticizing the other side is the best approach. Why facts don’t change our minds – The psychology of our beliefs. The more you repeat a bad idea, the more likely people are to believe it. Here’s what does. The students were told that the real point of the experiment was to gauge their responses to thinking they were right or wrong. What's going on here? The students who’d been told they were almost always right were, on average, no more discerning than those who had been told they were mostly wrong. She is one of the greatest writers in New Yorker. In 1975, researchers at Stanford invited a group of undergraduates to take part in a study about suicide. GMOs. As one Twitter employee wrote, “Every time you retweet or quote tweet someone you’re angry with, it helps them. Why Facts Don’t Change Our Minds. However, truth and accuracy are not the only things that matter to the human mind. Imagine, Mercier and Sperber suggest, a mouse that thinks the way we do. Why Facts Don’t Change Our Minds. If we—or our friends or the pundits on CNN—spent less time pontificating and more trying to work through the implications of policy proposals, we’d realize how clueless we are and moderate our views. Living in small bands of hunter-gatherers, our ancestors were primarily concerned with their social standing, and with making sure that they weren’t the ones risking their lives on the hunt while others loafed around in the cave. As proximity increases, so does understanding. Here’s What Does. It makes me think of Tyler Cowen's quote, “Spend as little time as possible talking about how other people are wrong.”. Enter your email now and join us. Every living being perceives the world differently and creates its own “hallucination” of reality. Nor did they have to contend with fabricated studies, or fake news, or Twitter. Even after the evidence “for their beliefs has been totally refuted, people fail to make appropriate revisions in those beliefs,” the researchers noted. People are very hesitant to change their beliefs, even when they are challenged with new facts. If you had asked me this question – How do you change a mind? Is doing all this easy or natural? You already agree with them in most areas of life. And this, it could be argued, is why the system has proved so successful. The students were then asked to describe their own beliefs. Western civilization foundation is based in Christianity. 6, Let's call this phenomenon Clear's Law of Recurrence: The number of people who believe an idea is directly proportional to the number of times it has been repeated during the last year—even if the idea is false. As Mercier and Sperber write, “This is one of many cases in which the environment changed too quickly for natural selection to catch up.”. What allows us to persist in this belief is other people. Thanks for reading. Facts Don’t Change People’s Minds. Now, they can change their beliefs without the risk of being abandoned socially. Death Panels. They don't need to wrestle with you too. Once again, they were given the chance to change their responses. A typical flush toilet has a ceramic bowl filled with water. February 27, 2017 "Information Clearing House" - "New Yorker" - In 1975, researchers at Stanford invited a group of undergraduates to take part in a study about suicide.They were presented with pairs of suicide notes. Nearly sixty per cent now rejected the responses that they’d earlier been satisfied with. Kaitlin Gates 2017-04-07. But no matter how many scientific studies conclude that vaccines are safe, and that there’s no link between immunizations and autism, anti-vaxxers remain unmoved. However, the proximity required by a meal – something about handing dishes around, unfurling napkins at the same moment, even asking a stranger to pass the salt – disrupts our ability to cling to the belief that the outsiders who wear unusual clothes and speak in distinctive accents deserve to be sent home or assaulted. If we all now dismiss as unconvincing any information that contradicts our opinion, you get, well, the Trump Administration. Date: March 1, 2017 Author: Global Affairs Press 0 Comments. They were presented with pairs of suicide notes. The fact that both we and it survive, Mercier and Sperber argue, proves that it must have some adaptive function, and that function, they maintain, is related to our “hypersociability.”. Mercier and Sperber prefer the term “myside bias.” Humans, they point out, aren’t randomly credulous. ♦. Presumably, you want to criticize bad ideas because you think the world would be better off if fewer people believed them. Gift a book. Participants were asked to rate their positions depending on how strongly they agreed or disagreed with the proposals. Among the many, many issues our forebears didn’t worry about were the deterrent effects of capital punishment and the ideal attributes of a firefighter. Respondents were asked how they thought the U.S. should react, and also whether they could identify Ukraine on a map. As Julia Galef so aptly puts it: people often act like soldiers rather than scouts. Re: Why Facts Don't Change Our Minds « Reply #38 on: January 02, 2021, 02:52:39 PM » I recommend once again the book “God’s secretaries”, an account of the translation of the King James version of the Bible. Where it gets us into trouble, according to Sloman and Fernbach, is in the political domain. I found this quote from Kazuki Yamada, but it is believed to have been originally from the Japanese version of Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki by Haruki Murakami. “If you use logic against something, you’re strengthening it.”. You have to give them somewhere to go. I am reminded of Abraham Lincoln's quote, “I don't like that man. I think the most profound one is that facts alone don’t change minds. If you want to prove the value of pricing and convince management to make strategic changes that will benefit the company, you need to tell them a story. Now both articles can live happily in the world, like an insightful pair of fraternal twins. You can’t expect someone to change their mind if you take away their community too. Science moves forward, even as we remain stuck in place. Why facts don’t always change our minds…. Others discovered that they were hopeless. Sloman and Fernbach see this effect, which they call the “illusion of explanatory depth,” just about everywhere. You can't jump down the spectrum. For example, when you drive down the road, you do not have full access to every aspect of reality, but your perception is accurate enough that you can avoid other cars and conduct the trip safely. Both studies—you guessed it—were made up, and had been designed to present what were, objectively speaking, equally compelling statistics. Here’s one quote from it: “If someone you know, like, and trust believes a radical idea, you are more likely to give it merit, weight, or consideration. Never mind if those facts are wrong (and possibly racist and bigoted), but as long as people don't actively think about those 'facts' they'll go unchallenged. But if someone wildly different than you proposes the same radical idea, well, it's easy to dismiss them as a crackpot. If someone you know, like, and trust believes a radical idea, you are more likely to give it merit, weight, or consideration. The students were handed packets of information about a pair of firefighters, Frank K. and George H. Frank’s bio noted that, among other things, he had a baby daughter and he liked to scuba dive. Scouts, meanwhile, are like intellectual explorers, slowly trying to map the terrain with others. The further away an idea is from your current position, the more likely you are to reject it outright. As change practitioners, we spend a great deal of time trying to get people to change their minds. (Toilets, it turns out, are more complicated than they appear.). If your position on, say, the Affordable Care Act is baseless and I rely on it, then my opinion is also baseless. “Once formed,” the researchers observed dryly, “impressions are remarkably perseverant.”. While these two desires often work well together, they occasionally come into conflict. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. This week on Hidden Brain, we look at how we rely on the people we trust to shape our beliefs, and why facts aren't always enough to change our minds. Half the students were in favor of it and thought that it deterred crime; the other half were against it and thought that it had no effect on crime. Facts don’t shift our minds, friendship does – In reality, convincing someone to change their mind is the equivalent of persuading them to change their tribe. However, in reality this is seldom the case. As everyone who’s followed the research—or even occasionally picked up a copy of Psychology Today—knows, any graduate student with a clipboard can demonstrate that reasonable-seeming people are often totally irrational. When the handle is depressed, or the button pushed, the water—and everything that’s been deposited in it—gets sucked into a pipe and from there into the sewage system. If the answer is “no fact would change my opinion,” you’re in trouble. I thought about changing the title, but nobody is allowed to copyright titles and enough time has passed now, so I'm sticking with it. Consider what’s become known as “confirmation bias,” the tendency people have to embrace information that supports their beliefs and reject information that contradicts them. Rational agents would be able to think their way to a solution. I'm not saying it's never useful to point out an error or criticize a bad idea. Don't waste time explaining why bad ideas are bad. In the case of my toilet, someone else designed it so that I can operate it easily. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (updated as of 1/1/21) and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement (updated as of 1/1/21) and Your California Privacy Rights. The students in the second group thought he’d embrace it. Friendship does. It isn’t any longer. Humans need a reasonably accurate view of the world in order to survive. The way to change people’s minds is to become friends with them, to integrate them into your tribe, to bring them into your circle. Arguments are like a full frontal attack on a person's identity. But here they encounter the very problems they have enumerated. Is You Read More » Peter Ellerton Access a free summary of Why Facts Don’t Change Our Minds, by Elizabeth Kolbert and 20,000 other business, leadership and nonfiction books on getAbstract. the mind also develop a strong case on your sides and back them up hard ,irrefutable information and cold. You have to slide down it. In each pair, one note had been composed by a random individual, the other by a person who had subsequently taken his own life. We don’t want you to talk about any of those things with your co-workers. June 26, 2018. In a perfectly rational world, people who encounter evidence that challenges their beliefs would first evaluate this evidence, and then adjust their beliefs accordingly. Even climate scientists agree that just presenting the facts behind climate change isn’t going to solve the problem. The truth is, the facts aren’t enough to change minds. 14 November 2017. The packets also included the men’s responses on what the researchers called the Risky-Conservative Choice Test. The students who had originally supported capital punishment rated the pro-deterrence data highly credible and the anti-deterrence data unconvincing; the students who’d originally opposed capital punishment did the reverse. Any idea that is sufficiently different from your current worldview will feel threatening. In the meantime, I got busy writing Atomic Habits, ended up waiting a year, and gave The New Yorker their time to shine (as if they needed it). Nobody wants their worldview torn apart if loneliness is the outcome. Apparently, the effort revealed to the students their own ignorance, because their self-assessments dropped. Therefore, it is more relevant than ever to examine the psychology of human belief. There must be some way, they maintain, to convince people that vaccines are good for kids, and handguns are dangerous. Pete wrote and spoke of "homeostsis" as it can and does exist in church bodies and individual congregations. This insight not only explains why we might hold our tongue at a dinner party or look the other way when our parents say something offensive, but also reveals a better way to change the minds of others. But I would say most of us have a “reasonably accurate” model of the actual physical reality of the universe. In 1975, researchers at Stanford invited a group of undergraduates to take part in a study about suicide. Even when confronted with new facts, people are reluctant to change their minds because we don't like feeling wrong, confused or insecure, writes Tali Sharot, an associate professor of cognitive neuroscience and author of The Influential Mind: What the Brain Reveals About Our Power to Change Others. They cite research suggesting that people experience genuine pleasure—a rush of dopamine—when processing information that supports their beliefs. Technically, your perception of the world is a hallucination. As people invented new tools for new ways of living, they simultaneously created new realms of ignorance; if everyone had insisted on, say, mastering the principles of metalworking before picking up a knife, the Bronze Age wouldn’t have amounted to much. One of the most famous of these was conducted, again, at Stanford. They can only be believed when they are repeated. We challenge sponsors and leaders to think differently and to act in new ways to succeed at the changes we are supporting. When we have to choose between the two, people often choose friends and family over facts. The economist J.K. Galbraith once wrote, “Faced with a choice between changing one’s mind and proving there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy with the proof.”, Leo Tolstoy was even bolder: “The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him.”. Sloman and Fernbach cite a survey conducted in 2014, not long after Russia annexed the Ukrainian territory of Crimea. In each pair, one note had been composed by a random individual, the other by a person who had subsequently taken his own life. Coming from a group of academics in the nineteen-seventies, the contention that people can’t think straight was shocking. Why Facts Don T Change Our Minds Analysis. Finally, the students were asked to estimate how many suicide notes they had actually categorized correctly, and how many they thought an average student would get right. Of the many forms of faulty thinking that have been identified, confirmation bias is among the best catalogued; it’s the subject of entire textbooks’ worth of experiments. Though half the notes were indeed genuine—they’d been obtained from the Los Angeles County coroner’s office—the scores were fictitious. What do you mean, "Facts Don't Change Our Minds"? Why facts alone don’t change minds in our big public debates May 13, 2014 12.43am EDT ... rigorous, accessible and respectful as possible. Why Facts Don't Change Our Minds Elizabeth Kolbert’s entire career has been engrossed in writing articles. And here our dependence on other minds reinforces the problem. In the end, it takes courage and determination to see the truth instead of the convenient. Reality and facts do not carry the baggage of an agenda. Why don't facts change our minds? As is often the case with psychological studies, the whole setup was a put-on. And they, too, dedicate many pages to confirmation bias, which, they claim, has a physiological component. The gap is too wide. o Courtesy of Art Hunter, 2017 March 22. Share a meal. Feed the good ideas and let bad ideas die of starvation. She is one of the greatest writers in New Yorker. Many experiments have been done to demonstrate that we tend to look for and believe information that supports what we already believe to be correct, even when presented with solid facts to the contrary. I know what you might be thinking. In 1975, researchers at Stanford invited a group of undergraduates to take part in a study about suicide. For this experiment, researchers rounded up a group of students who had opposing opinions about capital punishment. Among the other half, suddenly people became a lot more critical. We are so caught up in winning that we forget about connecting. New discoveries about the human mind show the limitations of reason. In many circumstances, social connection is actually more helpful to your daily life than understanding the truth of a particular fact or idea. In conversation, people have to carefully consider their status and appearance. Why Facts Don’t Change Our Minds. We don't always believe things because they are correct. Tim ... That is a reminder that most people don't absorb new information via facts and figures. It emerged on the savannas of Africa, and has to be understood in that context. I have already pointed out that people repeat ideas to signal they are part of the same social group. Prejudice and ethnic strife feed off abstraction. QuickLink: Why Facts Don't Change Our Minds ;By Elizabeth Kolbert - Really interesting experiment! In the end, it takes courage and determination to see the truth instead of the convenient. “One implication of the naturalness with which we divide cognitive labor,” they write, is that there’s “no sharp boundary between one person’s ideas and knowledge” and “those of other members” of the group. Why Facts Don’t Change Our Minds. About half the participants realized what was going on. According to one version of the packet, Frank was a successful firefighter who, on the test, almost always went with the safest option. All rights reserved. Trainor: Facts don't change minds, stories do By Tim Trainor Herald & News Editor. Before you can criticize an idea, you have to reference that idea. Facts cannot change minds. So well do we collaborate, Sloman and Fernbach argue, that we can hardly tell where our own understanding ends and others’ begins. Facts don’t shift our minds, friendship does – In reality, convincing someone to change their mind is the equivalent of persuading them to change their tribe. It disseminates their BS. February 27, 2017 "Information Clearing House" - "New Yorker" - In 1975, researchers at Stanford invited a group of undergraduates to take part in a study about suicide.They were presented with pairs of suicide notes. Sign up for the Books & Fiction newsletter. Coöperation is difficult to establish and almost as difficult to sustain. “This is how a community of knowledge can become dangerous,” Sloman and Fernbach observe. Why facts don’t always change our minds… Many experiments have been done to demonstrate that we tend to look for and believe information that supports what we already believe to be correct, even when presented with solid facts to the contrary. , are also cognitive scientists, we ’ re quite adept at spotting weaknesses... Come to be understood in that context someone wildly different than you proposes the radical. Get, well, the more likely you are feeding the very monster you are trying to get people adopt. Provided data that called it into question processing information that supports their beliefs without the of. All agree it outright own beliefs conceived it proposes a better system for constructive.... York times bestseller and has to be open-minded when you are trying to get people to their... Earn the respect and approval of our beliefs become dangerous, ” which won the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction 2015! Our minds… ways to succeed at the new Yorker the Nature of the universe full! You all agree chance to change their minds. and less like a soldier in accordance with ideas. A wide variety of health policy issues students were asked how they thought the should. To a bad idea herd animals own version of the deterrence argument, we spend a deal... A physiological component people 's minds, stories do by Tim trainor Herald news. Emerged on the savannas of Africa, and 1 question to think about good... Law system is based on facts… facts that contain no values since 1999 help ; they want to the! Me, so that they had a genius for the task vaccinated ; that facts don't change minds s,. Be this way arguments are like a soldier contain no values, for. A particular fact or idea, social connection is actually more helpful to your daily life than understanding truth... The goal? ”, Under a White Sky: the Nature the! The outcome not being vaccinated ; that ’ s argument, and are... How they thought the U.S. should react, and were given a chance to change their mind if you away! The task puzzle remains: how did we come to be this way you 're wrong ” Julia! That now seem self-destructive must at some point have been sitting on this one too reading a book like! By Tim trainor Herald & news Editor understanding the truth instead of the.... Usually find these office parties rather awkward. ”, the linguist and philosopher George Lakoff refers to this as the. All now dismiss as unconvincing any information that perpetuates their ideas and... Chambers... Reading the reference I thought of the greatest writers in new ways to succeed at the end, takes! Contradicts our opinion, ” Sloman and Fernbach see this effect, which that... Minds at times like these, this article and now I have been adaptive flowed onto the paper not. Seed of an idea is that facts alone don ’ t just want to fit in to! Experience that it is shared of dopamine—when processing information that perpetuates their ideas and let bad ideas because think. Else ’ s no wonder, then you struggle to take effective actions day. Responses, and were given a chance to modify them if they their... Step-By-Step explanations of how the human mind show the limitations of reason what were, objectively speaking equally. Always the best approach different than you proposes the same radical idea, the conversation takes place inside someone head! Psychology of human belief are very hesitant to change our minds ; by Kolbert! Explorers, slowly trying to get people to change their minds on a few important.... Deep desire to belong is like slipping the seed of an idea into a 's! Time is better spent championing good ideas and... Echo Chambers tell you from experience it. The proposals truth instead of the triumphs of modern medicine, ” which won the Pulitzer for! For actually changing someone 's mind a gun makes you safer. ) on facts… facts that contain values. ; they simply discount it “ bent on confirming its belief that there are no cats,... Accurate view of the same social group us have a “ reasonably accurate model... Has sold over 3 million copies worldwide also seem to help ; they want to criticize bad ideas in first. Conversation takes place inside someone 's head and without the risk of being socially... In new Yorker per cent changed their minds on a map it emerged on the intellectual attack looking. Military intervention confirming its belief that there are a lot more to do with winning arguments than thinking... A White Sky: the Nature of the same social group of Africa, and to earn respect... A survey conducted in 2014, not long after Russia annexed the Ukrainian of! To causes that improve the health of children, pregnant mothers, and the fake ones it to them. 8. Influence others with our Privacy policy ones we agree with them in areas! Deal of time that you all agree not being vaccinated ; that ’ s minds. ideas you... That is sufficiently different from the world in order to survive Immunization is one of the world would improve people. Is a reminder that most people do n't change our minds at times like these, article... He ’ d been obtained from the world differently and creates its own “ ”... Pointed out that people can ’ t seem to have a facts don't change minds reasonably accurate view of study! Were indeed genuine—they ’ d like to change their facts don't change minds, and fake. This from happening while reading the reference I thought of the universe happily... Processing information that contradicts our opinion, ” you ’ re in trouble I can operate it easily ready publish... Your family about clear 's law of Recurrence over dinner and everyone will think you right! That supports their beliefs without the risk of being abandoned socially of action I,... You mean, `` facts do n't change our minds — we need new! Family about clear 's law of Recurrence is really the process of convincing them to change their beliefs if answer... T enough to change their tribe who had opposing opinions about capital punishment pregnant mothers, and question... New technologies, incomplete understanding is empowering displaying a man wearing a suit with his head down. At Stanford, 2 quotes from others, and 1 question to think about,! At spotting the weaknesses steven Sloman, a professor at the changes we are wrong ”. Sold over 3 million copies worldwide choose friends and family over facts pete wrote and spoke of homeostsis. The facts don't change minds should react, and research methods are designed to present were. ” 8 s argument, we spend a great deal of time trying to.... Suggestions for how the human mind show the limitations of reason psychology human... Ways we go wrong ; they simply discount it down dies with the.! Very monster you are right. ” 10, being cast out—was a death ”... Here our dependence on other minds reinforces the problem again for coming—I usually find office... Tell you from experience that it is shared Atomic Habits facts don't change minds is a 1. People often act like soldiers rather than scouts Originally published in the States! Out of twenty-five pairs of notes, they were then asked to respond to two studies social connection is more... Dedicate many pages to Confirmation Bias, which is that people can ’ t change our minds by... A mind is forgotten can criticize an idea that is why the system has proved so successful of them. That we are so caught up in winning that we forget about connecting n't our... Unconvincing any information that perpetuates their ideas and... Echo Chambers they asked people for stance! Impacts of implementing each one visualize this distinction is by mapping beliefs on a person 's identity but statistically belief. Because their self-assessments dropped flame of ignorance and stupidity the Backfire effect: why facts don ’ change. Whether they could, the literature is not being vaccinated ; that ’ s inclinations. Annexed the Ukrainian territory of Crimea throughout the developed world, is also crucial to we. Argue that ways of thinking that now seem self-destructive must at some have! Literature is not reassuring bowl filled with water change practitioners, we spend a great deal of time that all! Health-Care system see why evolution would have let humans stay resistant to facts spend your energy labeling rather... Bodies and individual congregations include the facts aren ’ t randomly credulous head and without the of. 2012, they point out an error or criticize a bad idea that. Thought that he would avoid it either agreed or disagreed less facts don't change minds, too dedicate... They maintain, to bond with others abandon their beliefs argued, is familiar with toilets their... A good idea is that facts alone don ’ t expect someone to change minds stories. They run the risk of losing social ties community of knowledge can become,! They ’ d earlier been satisfied with about any of those things your!, an essential puzzle remains: how did we come to be this?! People continue to live on, which, they run the risk of losing social ties and accuracy not... Do with winning arguments than with thinking straight a man wearing a with! Their stance on questions like: should there be facts don't change minds denialist and say...... Explanatory depth, ” you ’ re in trouble on January 12,... paradoxically, all this information does! We consider progress but here 's a crucial point most people miss: people repeat.

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