Complex Numbers

Changes in Attitude

Ever changed your mind?

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20180622-the-surprising-reason-people-change-...

The surprising reason people change their minds
We usually believe that our opinions are stubborn and fixed. But new research shows that our views, even on politics, are changing all the time – just not for the reasons you’d expect.

You'd never know it from perusing social media.

Wherever you look at the moment, we seem divided – Brexiteer or Remainer, pro-President Trump or against. And no matter how much we argue, none of us appear to change our minds.

Article is from 2018, so some of the examples may seem dated, since we seem to be down to two issues: Whether to wear a mask or be an idiot, and whether people should have equal treatment under the law or not.

No one's changing their minds about those issues, either.

But new research suggests that, in fact, we can let go of our opinions – and that opposition can even turn into acceptance.

However, I know that my views on some things have changed over the years, so from that single data point, I can extrapolate that this is probably true. It's not like I have special mind-changing powers that no one else does.

For decades, research on confirmation bias has shown that we are more likely to look out for, notice and remember anything that confirms opinions we already hold.

Like, for example, me and this article.

If you like drinking wine, you’re more likely to remember the occasional studies which find a benefit from alcohol than the research on its risks.

While I can accept that this is generally true, it's not that I'm not aware of the risks of drinking alcohol; it's just that, for me, the benefits outweigh the risks. Besides, I have yet to see a "risk" study that takes into account how delicious it is.

Our brains are also faster at processing opinions we agree with.

This is one of those things that probably didn't need a formal study, but I suppose it's good that they've delved into it.

All of this would suggest that we hold our opinions dear. This is true, but it doesn’t mean those opinions are fixed forever. We are more fickle than we think.

I know I have to catch myself when I start thinking, "I've always held this opinion," when it's clear that I haven't; I just don't want to admit that I was wrong, so I try to convince myself that I was always right. But for me, the only thing worse than being wrong is being pigheadedly stubborn like that.

In other words, we rationalise the things we feel stuck with. It’s as though we free up brain space to get on with our lives by deciding it’s not so bad, after all.

Yeah, I'm still not there with this whole pandemic thing.

Next, Laurin looked at views on Ontario’s 2015 ban on smoking in parks and restaurant patios. She found that people didn’t only change their opinions after the ban had been brought in – they changed what they remembered about their own behaviour.

This is like what I said above, and in previous entries here: we can't really trust our own memories sometimes.

So it’s not that people simply become accustomed to a new situation. Instead, they actually change their thinking. It is as though they can’t bear to continue feeling angry, so they subconsciously look for ways to convince themselves that it will all be okay.

This, too, makes sense. We're nothing if not adaptable. For myself, if something changes that I didn't want changed, I try to find a way to live with it. Some would call that looking on the positive side of things, I suppose. I call it being too lazy to keep getting fired up about it.

A Harvard University team has done dozens of experiments demonstrating that when we imagine events in the future, we expect the worst of bad events and the best of good events. In reality, bad events don’t make us feel quite so awful and good events don’t make us feel quite so great.

Nah, I also expect the worst of good events. It's a defense mechanism. Then, when things turn out better than I expected, I feel that much happier (or at least less sad) about it.

And while we imagine that if something grave happens to us we won’t be able to cope, or that if something positive happens our lives will be transformed, in both cases we will be the same people we are now. After the initial impact, our emotions will subside and we will feel only a little better or worse than now. The same happens when we’re affected by a policy or situation we don’t like. If it’s possible, we make peace with what we once saw as negative changes.

I'll try to remember that when this November's election doesn't go the way I'd like.

In one sense this is rather hopeful: we try to find the good in every situation. But does this mean that policymakers can do whatever they like and we’ll all decide that’s okay? Not exactly. If that were the case, governments would never get voted out or overthrown in revolutions.

Or maybe I'll remember the "overthrown in revolutions" bit. I don't know.

But when we can’t change everything, making peace with the world might be an important part of our well-being.

Sometimes, though, I think a situation warrants not making peace with the way things are. As I've said before, one way or another: we can't change other people. We can only change ourselves.

The "surprising" bit in the article's headline turns out not to be the case. Dammit, BBC, clickbait? Really? I expected better from you. But I guess I can learn to live with it.