Yes, you have the problem. I have the problem and neither of us believe we do.

“In her 2017 article “This Article Won’t Change Your Mind,” my colleague Julie Beck asks a social psychologist: “What would get someone to change their mind about a false belief that is deeply tied to their identity?”

The answer? “Probably nothing.”

We’re generally okay at admitting we’re wrong about small matters, where the evidence is right in front of us. For example, Julie explains, if you thought it was going to be nice outside but then discover that it’s raining, you’ll grab an umbrella before you walk out the door. But if your false belief is tied to your identity or how you see the world, “then people become logical Simone Bileses, doing all the mental gymnastics it takes to remain convinced that they’re right.”

It doesn’t help that our mind is constantly tricking us. Faulty ways of thinking seem to be hardwired into the human brain, as the writer Ben Yagoda noted in 2018. Wikipedia has a standalone “List of cognitive biases,” whose more than 100 entries include the Zeigarnik effect (“uncompleted or interrupted tasks are remembered better than completed ones”) and the IKEA effect (“the tendency for people to place a disproportionately high value on objects that they partially assembled themselves.”

A hundred or so biases have been repeatedly shown to exist in the human mind, and, Yagoda writes, they might be impossible to get rid of. Or at least near-impossible: He tried several different methods to see if he could weaken his own biases, and the results were mixed.

In her piece, Julie offers some tips to help us try to lovingly change others’ minds. But we’re probably better off starting with ourselves; we’ve got powerful, self-deluding minds to contend with.“

Me??? I don't have that problem.

My biases can easily be overcome with evidence and facts. IMO

It seems to me we, as country, and as a culture, are more tribal now than in my living memory which is not that long. How does the OP see that tying in with the premise of the post?

Bluefish, tribalism is in our dna. Look at sporting events.

A survival mechanism for humans for thousands of years.

The OP is quite accurate.

I try and recognize my biases, but I am sure I am not always successful.

Trump being a personal example for me.

quote:

Originally posted by bluefish:
It seems to me we, as country, and as a culture, are more tribal now than in my living memory which is not that long. How does the OP see that tying in with the premise of the post?

Lack of nationalism?


.

quote:

Lack of nationalism?

Yep - the efforts of the Left/Socialists/Communists/Progressives - which began in the US in the 1920s (if not before) and really gained momentum in the 1960s - are now bearing fruit.

The result? Tribalism, balkanization, division, and a lack of patriotic nationalism in the land of E Pluribus Unum....

Maybe there is a difference between nationalism and patriotism.

quote:

Originally posted by JTEX:

quote:

Originally posted by bluefish:
It seems to me we, as country, and as a culture, are more tribal now than in my living memory which is not that long. How does the OP see that tying in with the premise of the post?

Lack of nationalism?


.

100% We all used to think we belonged to the same tribe — the American Tribe.

Yes we were a bit Comanche-like in that when there were outside lulls we might war among ourselves but let another nation pick on us Katy bar the door.

It was the glue that held us together.

quote:

Originally posted by ledvm:

quote:

Originally posted by JTEX:

quote:

Originally posted by bluefish:
It seems to me we, as country, and as a culture, are more tribal now than in my living memory which is not that long. How does the OP see that tying in with the premise of the post?

Lack of nationalism?


.

100% We all used to think we belonged to the same tribe — the American Tribe.

Yes we were a bit Comanche-like in that when there were outside lulls we might war among ourselves but let another nation pick on us Katy bar the door.

It was the glue that held us together.

I wouldn't have said Comanche.... I would have said brothers....

.

they considered themselves [as a group] as human beings.
they squabbled back and forth amongst the smaller groups, but if you messed with one of them you messed with all of them... period.

now,, you can't get the younger generation to even admit they like it here.

quote:

Originally posted by JTEX:

quote:

Originally posted by ledvm:

quote:

Originally posted by JTEX:

quote:

Originally posted by bluefish:
It seems to me we, as country, and as a culture, are more tribal now than in my living memory which is not that long. How does the OP see that tying in with the premise of the post?

Lack of nationalism?


.

100% We all used to think we belonged to the same tribe — the American Tribe.

Yes we were a bit Comanche-like in that when there were outside lulls we might war among ourselves but let another nation pick on us Katy bar the door.

It was the glue that held us together.

I wouldn't have said Comanche.... I would have said brothers....

.

I see your point for sure!

I was just reading about the Comanche Nation and how they liked to fight so much that when they had no outside threat…they just chose up sides and fought amongst themselves. But as a conglomerate…they were a force to be reckoned with.

I understand the Comanches were incredible horsemen. Learned to ride before they walked

They became the horse traders for the Great Plains spreading the horse to the northern tribes.

One thing that has baffled me. I understand the Comanches never gelded their horses. Hard to imagine they didn’t with the pandemonium created by a mare in heat.

quote:

Originally posted by Schrodinger:
I understand the Comanches were incredible horsemen. Learned to ride before they walked

They became the horse traders for the Great Plains spreading the horse to the northern tribes.

One thing that has baffled me. I understand the Comanches never gelded their horses. Hard to imagine they didn’t with the pandemonium created by a mare in heat.

I am just not enough of a historical expert on that to say for sure.

The Comanche and his Horse

quote:

They also practiced selective breeding, gelding the inferior males and breeding the best stallions with their mares.

Not a definitive reference by any means but……