article re believing [was: Part 1 of Paul Smith's'investigation'
Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2011 12:24 am
I didn't realize that this topic concerned Festinger's social/psych studies on cognitive dissonance.
This is a concept that I have been talking about for a couple of years now. I remember his experiments
with college students and the use of his work in the military. And we run into it with the Denialists.
The framework that I often use in discussing this problem is that people operate out of Faith Based
belief systems. The intellect works to maintain those beliefs. The neurology is really disrupted when
you try to break through these beliefs with other ideas/experiences. People often react quite violently
when their belief systems are challenged. The violence is most often verbal, but it is aggressive and
can erupt if pushed.
I had such an experience last nite when at a meeting the chairperson was late due to her dog being
bitten. I offerred her information as well some calendula. It wasn't her resistence that became the
issue but the verbal vehemence of the other people there trying to create hysteria and push her to a
vet. They cut me off, physically moved between me and the dog owner, raising their voices and trying
to shout me out. Of course, they were just very concerned and helpful people! And that was a fairly
mild situation
It seems to me that when people are operating out of their intellect, they would be more open to hearing
some new information and would at least try to take it in and even look up material to learn more. When
there is such denialist emotionality, I think we are in the camp of cognitive dissonance and the only way
to affect such thinking is to try and take the person through an emotional experince to counter what they
feel. The deeper the belief, though, the harder is the task.
tanya
________________________________
This is a concept that I have been talking about for a couple of years now. I remember his experiments
with college students and the use of his work in the military. And we run into it with the Denialists.
The framework that I often use in discussing this problem is that people operate out of Faith Based
belief systems. The intellect works to maintain those beliefs. The neurology is really disrupted when
you try to break through these beliefs with other ideas/experiences. People often react quite violently
when their belief systems are challenged. The violence is most often verbal, but it is aggressive and
can erupt if pushed.
I had such an experience last nite when at a meeting the chairperson was late due to her dog being
bitten. I offerred her information as well some calendula. It wasn't her resistence that became the
issue but the verbal vehemence of the other people there trying to create hysteria and push her to a
vet. They cut me off, physically moved between me and the dog owner, raising their voices and trying
to shout me out. Of course, they were just very concerned and helpful people! And that was a fairly
mild situation
It seems to me that when people are operating out of their intellect, they would be more open to hearing
some new information and would at least try to take it in and even look up material to learn more. When
there is such denialist emotionality, I think we are in the camp of cognitive dissonance and the only way
to affect such thinking is to try and take the person through an emotional experince to counter what they
feel. The deeper the belief, though, the harder is the task.
tanya
________________________________