I do not think it is that easy to change your own or others opinions, people are very set in their ways and do not like to be proven 'wrong'. Hence why I have said that I am not out to change others minds. People will only change their points of view when they are in the right frame of mind and are in the right place to do so. Below is an article I thought was interesting. Feel free to think about where you sit in this issue, if you want to of course.
"Recent research has been done to determine why it is that people are often so committed to their point of view as being the right one, despite compelling evidence to the contrary. As a mental health professional I found the results both interesting and unfortunate because they leave little hope for the idea that factual evidence actually matters in many cases.
Nowhere does this play out more than in the realm of politics.
(I would also add forums to this 
) As human beings we are naturally drawn to information that supports our beliefs; this is why people form groups, whether around religion or simply shared interests. But what the studies bore out was that when presented with evidence debunking their convictions, people became even more rooted in their original beliefs either as a defense mechanism or as a form of protest.
It seems a bit silly until you really think about what it feels like to be proven wrong and what that may mean for one’s own sense of self. If you have held on to a belief about something for a long time and then you are suddenly forced to change your opinion, what does that say about you and how does that undermine your future credibility. These are all relatively unconscious thoughts which is why they are so incredibly powerful.
Of note was the correlation between a person’s level of self esteem and their willingness to alter their opinion. Those who generally had more self confidence were willing to reconsider their position while those who felt insecure or negatively challenged were less likely to budge. It often takes a long time for people to get comfortable with the phrase, “I don’t know” and even longer for people to cozy up to the idea that maybe they may have been wrong.
This is a difficult problem to tackle and it affects so many areas of people’s lives and interactions. I see this dilemma frequently when working with couples in therapy. Of course this only applies to those things that are actually factual and not those things that are subjective, where reasonable minds can in fact differ. It brings to mind the old adage, “everyone has a right to their own opinion but not to their own facts.”
59 Replies
20347 Views