How Can People Justify Ridiculous Beliefs?

As I discussed previously, truth seems to be subjective and personal rather than objective and universal. But beyond that, we always seem to have reasons and justifications for our beliefs, even when those reasons can seem utterly ridiculous to others. For example, tell me if this sounds familiar:

“I was talking to so and so, and we got into an argument over such and such because they were completely obstinate. They absolutely refused to listen to logic. It was totally unbelievable.”

Why does this happen?  Why are people so irrational sometimes? Why do people never seem to say:

“You’re right, I’m wrong. Thank you for showing the error of my ways.”

It turns out, the problem is in how our brains process information.

Dissonance

As Carol Tavris & Elliot Aronson describe in their book Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me), when our brain is presented with new information that conflicts with something we already believe, our brains have a problem. This state is called cognitive dissonance. Our brains don’t want to stay in this state because it wants the world to be logical and orderly. So our brain essentially has two choices, discard our initial belief, or dismiss the new information.

The most interesting part of the cognitive dissonance resolution process is when we dismiss new information, it’s not good enough to simply dismiss it outright, our brains need some reason to dismiss it. This is why we end up rationalizing or justifying our decisions. It’s not something we do consciously; our brains do it for us automatically.

For example, when we make a mistake it can cause cognitive dissonance. I’m a smart / competent / skilled person, how could I make a mistake?  To resolve the dissonance we’ll find some excuse – like “it wasn’t my fault, it was because <insert lame excuse here>”, even when it was clearly our fault.

How about smoking? It’s nearly universal believed that smoking cigarettes is harmful (how harmful is still up for debate), but there shouldn’t be any good reason to smoke anymore, right? Ask any smoker why they haven’t quit yet and they’ll have a fine list of rationalizations:

• “I don’t inhale”
• “I’ve cut back recently”
• “The scientists exaggerate the danger”
• “I only smoke when I drink”
• “I’m too busy right now, I’ll quit next month”
• “It helps me relax”
• “It prevents weight gain”

What about personal conflict, like domestic violence? If the abuser believes themselves to be basically a good person, then hurting someone they love will cause dissonance:

• “They provoked me”
• “They deserved it”
• “They’re worthless and lazy”

What about military conflict? In a war, who are the good guys and who are the bad guys? Do you think the enemy really think of themselves as evil? Not usually, but we rationalize killing them by demonizing them and whatever atrocities they’ve committed.

Indoctrination

The other interesting part of our rationalization process is the effect can be cumulative. Once we’ve made a decision, it’s hard to undo it, especially the difficult ones. Our brains will make sure we have a justification for that decision so that we won’t forever be worrying that we made the wrong one. Over time, that initial decision gets reinforced to the point where we can’t imagine ever making the opposite decision, even when it was a toss-up originally.

For example, whenever we argue about something, the longer we argue about it, the more we’re going to become entrenched in our belief, even if we’re obviously on the losing side. Not only are we defending our belief now, but also the time and effort invested trying to defend it.

This also how people get brainwashed (or indoctrinated if you prefer).

How do you turn a normal, well-adjusted person into a devout cult member? How do you teach someone to be an effective soldier? How you get someone involved in illegal activity? A little bit at a time. Once you get the ball rolling, self-justification will do the rest.

For example, if you told someone walking down the street that aliens are coming on a spaceship to save us because the world is going to end, they’d laugh in your face. But if you indoctrinate them slowly over time, you can get seemingly normal people to leave their jobs, their spouses, and to give away all their possessions.

Obviously some people are more easily influenced than others, but don’t assume you’re immune. Anyone can be turned into a completely different person under the right conditions. The brain is a funny thing. Our ability to self-rationalize is extremely beneficial because it lets us sleep at night. Just try to avoid the slippery slope…

[Image: Peter Arno]

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