Have you ever been in the company of someone that, even when presented with clear, legitimate evidence on a subject, fails to change his or her mind? I am not talking about a debate over who has the best tasting coffee in town (a subjective opinion), but instead pointing toward things that we know to be true — and can easily be proven so. And even as you mount up your evidence in hopes that the person will come around to reality, the person does something completely unexpected and actually “doubles down” on their original position. Often in these moments the shock of what is happening steals attention from the curiosity you might otherwise have wondering how in the world is this person still thinking this is true, when the evidence is so obvious that it isn’t? Fortunately, the field of psychology offers a solid answer why people often hold on strong to their original position (even when demonstrably proven false).
Commitment & consistency
The psychological principle of commitment and consistency refers to the choices people make to believe more strongly in the decisions previously made in order to avoid cognitive dissonance (a situation where you have conflicting beliefs or behaviors). Marketers know this principle quite well, as a primary goal when selling something is to get potential customers to “buy in,” and make public that position, if possible. While you might initially laugh at this, we know through an abundance of research that once a person takes a position (commitment), he or she will do almost anything to stay consistent to that position. Problems occur when the original position that was taken becomes viewed as “flawed,” leaving two potential choices:
1. Stay true to the original position, regardless of cognitive dissonance (often to the point of absurdity), or
2. Use critical thinking, acknowledge that the original position was flawed, and move in a new direction.
Staying with this model, you can begin to see why some people, even when they know their original position is wrong, damaging, or hurtful, will more likely stay with their original thinking rather than admit being wrong and have to recalculate the situation.
Said in more frank language, people would much rather hold on to their original view — through embarrassment, humiliation, and even potential danger — than ever have to admit they were wrong. Human pride can be a good thing in life, but it can also lead to devastating life consequences when it becomes the ultimate filter for life opinions and decisions.
Critical thinking is invaluable in life, and is the best response to challenges that inevitably surface when dealing with commitment and consistency. While it might feel embarrassing owning up to an original position that has been proven false, it’s almost always even worse to commit, or stay firm, in your original position when it’s obviously deeply flawed. Commitment and consistency helps explain why people often hold on to things that simply aren’t true, even when they know it isn’t true, rather than let their guard down and accept more rationale answers and information.
Final thoughts
Now that you know about the psychological principle of commitment and consistency, what should you do to prevent getting stuck holding an opinion that is obviously wrong? First, always use critical thinking! Analyze your assumptions, ask a lot of questions, and let the evidence (not your pride) take you in the right direction. Second, be careful with confirmation bias and seek out objective evidence, not just what you find that confirms your original position. And finally, commitment and consistency often happens when we make our opinions public, so for things that you are not 100% sure of it might be best to gather more evidence before being so confident.
drstankovich.com
