124 - Belief Change Blindness

Mar 26, 2018

Michael Wolfe, a psychology professor at Grand Valley State University, shares fascinating insights into how we often forget our previous beliefs after changing them. He and Todd Williams discuss the concept of belief change blindness, revealing that our brains prioritize consistency, making us overlook our own intellectual evolution. This can skew our worldview and create an illusion that changing beliefs is rare. By embracing counterevidence, we can enrich our understanding, though we may only realize the transformation upon reflecting on past convictions.

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INSIGHT

Mind Change Often Forgotten

We change our beliefs frequently but rarely recall prior beliefs accurately.
Our minds reconstruct memories to match current beliefs, erasing past views.

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INSIGHT

Defining Beliefs vs Attitudes

Beliefs differ from attitudes and knowledge by their link to external reality.
Attitudes incorporate emotions, while knowledge is a broad, stored understanding.

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ANECDOTE

Experiment on Belief Change Recall

Participants rated beliefs on spanking effectiveness two months prior then read evidence supporting or opposing it.
Later, they reported updated beliefs and tried recalling their original stance to test memory accuracy.

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When was the last time you changed your mind? Are you sure?

In this episode we explore new research that suggests for the majority of the mind change we experience, after we update our priors, we delete what we used to believe and then simply forget that we ever thought otherwise.

In the show, psychologists Michael Wolfe and Todd Williams, take us though their new research which suggests that because brains so value consistency, and are so determined to avoid the threat of decoherence, we hide the evidence of our belief change. That way, the story we tell ourselves about who we are can remain more or less heroic, with a stable, steadfast protagonist whose convictions rarely waver -- or, at least, they don’t waver as much as those of shifty, flip-flopping politicians.

This can lead to a skewed perception of the world, one that leads to the assumption that mind change is rare and difficult-to-come-by. And that can lead to our avoiding information that might expand our understanding of the world, because we assume it will have no impact.

The truth, say Wolfe and Williams, is that mind change is so prevalent and constant, that the more you expose yourself to counterevidence, the more your worldview will erode, replaced by a better, more accurate one -- it's just that you probably won't realize it until you look back at old posts on social media and cringe.

Patreon: http://patreon.com/youarenotsosmart

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