"Why Fact Can't Compete With Belief"
(excerpt from The Atlantic, and appearing in THE WEEK, 10/09/09):
Why do people cling to an opinion even after they're presented with contradictory evidence? The easy answer, of course, is simply that people are irrational. But the way in which they're irrational is telling.
In a new study, Social Science Researchers have found that people employ 'motivated reasoning' to fend off any evidence that their strongly held beliefs are wrong. Many people feel that they ARE their opinions, and hate to lose arguments. As Vince Lombardi once said "Every time you lose, you die a little."
So when confronted with new, troubling information, ideologues selectively interpret the facts or use 'contorted logic' to make the conflicting evidence just go away.
In the study, even when presented with compelling, factual data from a trusted source, many subjects still found ways to dismiss it. In fact, researchers found that exposing people to contradictory information actually intensified their existing beliefs, making them more rigid and entrenched...Needless to say, the findings do not offer much hope of changing anyone else's mind with facts or rational discussion.
The moment we're invested in a particular ideology, we seek out evidence which supports it, that is true.
And naturally we greatly increase the validity of what we agree with, and discount that which doesn't support our ideology.
Yes, this is human nature.
It's HARD to change one's mind about things which we dearly hold to be true.
I think I've managed to do it once in my entire life.
Glad I did, but it was definitely NOT something I managed to do all at once.
It took YEARS of reality informing me that I was wrong to get me to admit that what I believed was wrong.