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Recovery from Mormonism (RfM) discussion forum.
https://medium.com/editors-picks/adfa0d026a7e
From the article:
"“A MAN WITH A CONVICTION is a hard man to change. Tell him you disagree and he turns away. Show him facts or figures and he questions your sources. Appeal to logic and he fails to see your point.” So wrote the celebrated Stanford University psychologist Leon Festinger, in a passage that might have been referring to climate change denial—the persistent rejection, on the part of so many Americans today, of what we know about global warming and its human causes. But it was too early for that—this was the 1950s—and Festinger was actually describing a famous case study in psychology.
Festinger and several of his colleagues had infiltrated the Seekers, a small Chicago-area cult whose members thought they were communicating with aliens—including one, “Sananda,” who they believed was the astral incarnation of Jesus Christ. The group was led by Dorothy Martin, a Dianetics devotee who transcribed the interstellar messages through automatic writing.
Through her, the aliens had given the precise date of an Earth-rending cataclysm: December 21, 1954. Some of Martin’s followers quit their jobs and sold their property, expecting to be rescued by a flying saucer when the continent split asunder and a new sea swallowed much of the United States. The disciples even went so far as to remove brassieres and rip zippers out of their trousers—the metal, they believed, would pose a danger on the spacecraft.
Festinger and his team were with the cult when the prophecy failed. First, the “boys upstairs” (as the aliens were sometimes called) did not show up and rescue the Seekers. Then December 21 arrived without incident. It was the moment Festinger had been waiting for: How would people so emotionally invested in a belief system react, now that it had been soundly refuted?
At first, the group struggled for an explanation. But then rationalization set in. A new message arrived, announcing that they’d all been spared at the last minute. Festinger summarized the extraterrestrials’ new pronouncement: “The little group, sitting all night long, had spread so much light that God had saved the world from destruction.” Their willingness to believe in the prophecy had saved Earth from the prophecy!
From that day forward, the Seekers, previously shy of the press and indifferent toward evangelizing, began to proselytize. “Their sense of urgency was enormous,” wrote Festinger. The devastation of all they had believed had made them even more certain of their beliefs.
IN THE ANNALS OF DENIAL, it doesn’t get much more extreme than the Seekers. They lost their jobs, the press mocked them, and there were efforts to keep them away from impressionable young minds. But while Martin’s space cult might lie at the far end of the spectrum of human self-delusion, there’s plenty to go around. And since Festinger’s day, an array of new discoveries in psychology and neuroscience has further demonstrated how our preexisting beliefs, far more than any new facts, can skew our thoughts and even color what we consider our most dispassionate and logical conclusions. This tendency toward so-called “motivated reasoning” helps explain why we find groups so polarized over matters where the evidence is so unequivocal: climate change, vaccines, “death panels,” the birthplace and religion of the president (PDF), and much else. It would seem that expecting people to be convinced by the facts flies in the face of, you know, the facts."
One of the things that has struck me reading the ex-Mormon sites is the belief among many that the church leaders know that they are lying to their flock and continue to lie anyway for their own personal gain. The article at the link provided above suggests that the situation may be more complicated, and my personal observations of both myself and others would tend to bear that out. If the world doesn't fit our belief systems, then we will do everything in our power to skew the facts towards our point of view, whatever that point of view may be.
And, if he ever visits here anymore, I would be very interested on former Mormon bishop Bob McCue's take on this article--I know that a few years ago he was very interested in the question of why humans hang on to their religious beliefs when the overwhelming evidence showed those beliefs to be absolutely false.
From the article:
"“A MAN WITH A CONVICTION is a hard man to change. Tell him you disagree and he turns away. Show him facts or figures and he questions your sources. Appeal to logic and he fails to see your point.” So wrote the celebrated Stanford University psychologist Leon Festinger, in a passage that might have been referring to climate change denial—the persistent rejection, on the part of so many Americans today, of what we know about global warming and its human causes. But it was too early for that—this was the 1950s—and Festinger was actually describing a famous case study in psychology.
Festinger and several of his colleagues had infiltrated the Seekers, a small Chicago-area cult whose members thought they were communicating with aliens—including one, “Sananda,” who they believed was the astral incarnation of Jesus Christ. The group was led by Dorothy Martin, a Dianetics devotee who transcribed the interstellar messages through automatic writing.
Through her, the aliens had given the precise date of an Earth-rending cataclysm: December 21, 1954. Some of Martin’s followers quit their jobs and sold their property, expecting to be rescued by a flying saucer when the continent split asunder and a new sea swallowed much of the United States. The disciples even went so far as to remove brassieres and rip zippers out of their trousers—the metal, they believed, would pose a danger on the spacecraft.
Festinger and his team were with the cult when the prophecy failed. First, the “boys upstairs” (as the aliens were sometimes called) did not show up and rescue the Seekers. Then December 21 arrived without incident. It was the moment Festinger had been waiting for: How would people so emotionally invested in a belief system react, now that it had been soundly refuted?
At first, the group struggled for an explanation. But then rationalization set in. A new message arrived, announcing that they’d all been spared at the last minute. Festinger summarized the extraterrestrials’ new pronouncement: “The little group, sitting all night long, had spread so much light that God had saved the world from destruction.” Their willingness to believe in the prophecy had saved Earth from the prophecy!
From that day forward, the Seekers, previously shy of the press and indifferent toward evangelizing, began to proselytize. “Their sense of urgency was enormous,” wrote Festinger. The devastation of all they had believed had made them even more certain of their beliefs.
IN THE ANNALS OF DENIAL, it doesn’t get much more extreme than the Seekers. They lost their jobs, the press mocked them, and there were efforts to keep them away from impressionable young minds. But while Martin’s space cult might lie at the far end of the spectrum of human self-delusion, there’s plenty to go around. And since Festinger’s day, an array of new discoveries in psychology and neuroscience has further demonstrated how our preexisting beliefs, far more than any new facts, can skew our thoughts and even color what we consider our most dispassionate and logical conclusions. This tendency toward so-called “motivated reasoning” helps explain why we find groups so polarized over matters where the evidence is so unequivocal: climate change, vaccines, “death panels,” the birthplace and religion of the president (PDF), and much else. It would seem that expecting people to be convinced by the facts flies in the face of, you know, the facts."
One of the things that has struck me reading the ex-Mormon sites is the belief among many that the church leaders know that they are lying to their flock and continue to lie anyway for their own personal gain. The article at the link provided above suggests that the situation may be more complicated, and my personal observations of both myself and others would tend to bear that out. If the world doesn't fit our belief systems, then we will do everything in our power to skew the facts towards our point of view, whatever that point of view may be.
And, if he ever visits here anymore, I would be very interested on former Mormon bishop Bob McCue's take on this article--I know that a few years ago he was very interested in the question of why humans hang on to their religious beliefs when the overwhelming evidence showed those beliefs to be absolutely false.
"GIVEN THE POWER OF our prior beliefs to skew how we respond to new information, one thing is becoming clear: If you want someone to accept new evidence, make sure to present it to them in a context that doesn’t trigger a defensive, emotional reaction."
Thanks for sharing this article. I think this part states well our problem with sharing the truth with TBMs.
Thanks for sharing this article. I think this part states well our problem with sharing the truth with TBMs.
Wow! "Motivated Reasoning." I absolutely loved this article -- so very interesting.
To each person, his own personal mythology is true, depending on motivation and rewards.
To each person, his own personal mythology is true, depending on motivation and rewards.
From the article:
"MODERN SCIENCE ORIGINATED from an attempt to weed out such
subjective lapses—what that great 17th century theorist of the
scientific method, Francis Bacon, dubbed the “idols of the
mind.” Even if individual researchers are prone to falling in
love with their own theories, the broader processes of peer
review and institutionalized skepticism are designed to ensure
that, eventually, the best ideas prevail."
Interestingly the very safeguards that science has put into
place to guard against "subjective lapses" Mormonism embraces.
In the first place you have to WANT to believe. Then you are to
let it work on your mind and act as if you believed it. Finally
you make your decision based on whether you like how it feels to
you, how you feel with that idea in your mind. All during the
process you are told to avoid "critics" and anything that
makes you feel bad about it.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/2013 11:51PM by baura.
"MODERN SCIENCE ORIGINATED from an attempt to weed out such
subjective lapses—what that great 17th century theorist of the
scientific method, Francis Bacon, dubbed the “idols of the
mind.” Even if individual researchers are prone to falling in
love with their own theories, the broader processes of peer
review and institutionalized skepticism are designed to ensure
that, eventually, the best ideas prevail."
Interestingly the very safeguards that science has put into
place to guard against "subjective lapses" Mormonism embraces.
In the first place you have to WANT to believe. Then you are to
let it work on your mind and act as if you believed it. Finally
you make your decision based on whether you like how it feels to
you, how you feel with that idea in your mind. All during the
process you are told to avoid "critics" and anything that
makes you feel bad about it.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/2013 11:51PM by baura.