Why some people won’t change their minds even when faced with evidence they are wrong.

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6 thoughts on “Why some people won’t change their minds even when faced with evidence they are wrong.”

    • I have always thought most people believed what they wanted to believe in general, but I believe all humans have a hugely disproportionate confidence and pride our own self-awareness and abilities to discern truth.

      I think many who survive and overcome narcissistic abuse are the first to relearn the value of groundedness, critical thinking and being intellectually honest with oneself. I have to laugh when my extremely self-confident and inexperienced relatives boast, for example, that they would never fall prey to an abuser (like I did) when even as they speak they may be demonstrating codependency in certain aspects of their lives, and are currently denying truths placed right before their eyes.

      I think a habitual disproportionate negative view of reality, and its evil twin opposite, a disproportionate positive way of thinking, are both enemies of the mind. (I also appreciated Otter, your last post on the dangers of “Positive Thinking”.) People have confused hoping for the best, with assuming the best, in mindless, knee jerk reaction to over negativity and negative thinking. Whereas negative thinking is the unrealistic reign of the inner critic, positive thinking inevitably produces a dissociation, a cognitive dissonance from all painful realities, and nonpositive or uncomfortable truths. (“What? Rethink the way I think? No can do, because that would be, well… uncomfortable!”)

      Yes, PT leads to cognitive dissonance, lack of empathy, narcissism and even sadism. Writer Dean Koontz depicted the dissociative dangers of extreme positivism beautifully in his mesmerizing horror/action/philosophical thriller novel From the Corner of His Eye. The killer is a protagonist for the self help teachings of a reknowned positive thinking guru, just taking this philosophy to its logical conclusions. Since he doesn’t want to consciously experience any negative “consequences” for his own “positive” actions, the way these consequences manifest themselves in the killer’s own body is fascinating, humorous and grotesque.

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      • Excellent points made here, LSG. I love Dean Koontz BTW! His books are hard to put down, but there’s always a message there that hope, empathy and kindness always win in the end. I read he is a devout Catholic and after he rediscovered his religion again, his books took on a more hopeful theme, even his horror novels. I didn’t read the book you mentioned, but I loved his series about the young man with the skin disorder where he couldn’t ever be exposed to sunlight (xeroderma pigmentosum). I forget what that character’s name was but he was a true hero.

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  3. I love the subversiveness of this meme. Note the ball cap that looks very reminiscent of the red MAGA caps Trump supporters wear. It couldn’t have been accidental! 😂😂😂

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