How and Why Do Humans Change Their Minds
How and why do people change their minds, it is a very interesting question but at the end of the day one major answer is that many people will not, and will go to extreme lengths to deny/ignore any evidence which challenges their beliefs. For example Galileo died in 1642 of an illness after having been imprisoned by catholic church for over 9 years. The reason that he was imprisoned was not for any heinous crime, but for challenging the beliefs of the catholic church by presenting the idea of a heliocentric solar system. The catholic church saw this as blasphemy because it presented an idea that does not fit with the beliefs/ideas of the church.
As humans, we always tend to choose the easy way out and learning new things, especially when it challenges our way of thinking, may be very difficult and mentally stressful. Galileo was initially sentenced to house arrest for presenting his new ideas to the world but in the 21st century we have adopted his beliefs and accepted them as truth. It was not until over a century later that the Catholic church changed their stance on the Heliocentric viewpoint, and over the next century they began doing further research confirming this belief. Before they came to that conclusion other scientists/physicists had begun publishing their own works also contributing to our current understanding of the Solar system. I believe that if ones beliefs are continuously challenged and scrutinized there are two possible outcomes, a change in their beliefs, or they may become even more dug in and choose to die on their arbitrary hill.
Eventually the catholic church changed their minds on the structure of the solar system but that was only after centuries of different people poking and prodding at their outdated beliefs. That further proves that the best way to change someones mind is to keep challenging them until they see things from the right perspective. When it comes to changing an individual’s mind on a more subjective topic it may be much harder because of the fact that people are entitled to their own opinions.
In the modern era, when information is readily available to practically everyone who wants to learn, it is surprising how many people have accepted misinformation as fact. Many of those people have also been presented with the truth but refuse to accept it and choose to believe what they have long believed is true. That is because, as I mentioned earlier it is much easier to ignore new information than to change your views. Certain people will choose to listen when presented with new information and decide to accept it based on the logic behind it, an others may choose to let their own biases overwhelm them and refute any information regardless of logic and truth. The people who choose to change their mind tend to be interested in growing as a person and learning new things, while the other group just wants to be right and stay right.
In conclusion`the catholic church serves as an excellent example for the group of indivduals who refuse to change their mind and would rather sentence someone to life in prison instead of accepting that they were wrong. Up until recently the catholic church still denied the heliocentric viewpoint, until the evidence stacked up too high to ignore. They changed their mid because they had no other choice, while gallileo/copernicus changed their minds because they found new information via research. They were interested in growing and learning while the catholic church just wanted to be correct. So at the end of the day some people will not change their mind unless forced to.
How and Why Do Humans Change Their Minds
How and why do people change their minds, it is a very interesting question but at the end of the day one major answer is that many people will not, and will go to extreme lengths to deny/ignore any evidence which challenges their beliefs. For example Galileo died in 1642 of an illness after having been imprisoned by catholic church for over 9 years. The reason that he was imprisoned was not for any heinous crime, but for challenging the beliefs of the catholic church by presenting the idea of a heliocentric solar system. The catholic church saw this as blasphemy because it presented an idea that does not fit with the beliefs/ideas of the church.
As humans, we always tend to choose the easy way out and learning new things, especially when it challenges our way of thinking, may be very difficult and mentally stressful. Galileo was initially sentenced to house arrest for presenting his new ideas to the world but in the 21st century we have adopted his beliefs and accepted them as truth. It was not until over a century later that the Catholic church changed their stance on the Heliocentric viewpoint, and over the next century they began doing further research confirming this belief. Before they came to that conclusion other scientists/physicists had begun publishing their own works also contributing to our current understanding of the Solar system. I believe that if ones beliefs are continuously challenged and scrutinized there are two possible outcomes, a change in their beliefs, or they may become even more dug in and choose to die on their arbitrary hill.
Eventually the catholic church changed their minds on the structure of the solar system but that was only after centuries of different people poking and prodding at their outdated beliefs. That further proves that the best way to change someones mind is to keep challenging them until they see things from the right perspective. When it comes to changing an individual’s mind on a more subjective topic it may be much harder because of the fact that people are entitled to their own opinions.
In the modern era, when information is readily available to practically everyone who wants to learn, it is surprising how many people have accepted misinformation as fact. Many of those people have also been presented with the truth but refuse to accept it and choose to believe what they have long believed is true. That is because, as I mentioned earlier it is much easier to ignore new information than to change your views. Certain people will choose to listen when presented with new information and decide to accept it based on the logic behind it, an others may choose to let their own biases overwhelm them and refute any information regardless of logic and truth. The people who choose to change their mind tend to be interested in growing as a person and learning new things, while the other group just wants to be right and stay right.
In conclusion`the catholic church serves as an excellent example for the group of indivduals who refuse to change their mind and would rather sentence someone to life in prison instead of accepting that they were wrong. Up until recently the catholic church still denied the heliocentric viewpoint, until the evidence stacked up too high to ignore. They changed their mid because they had no other choice, while gallileo/copernicus changed their minds because they found new information via research. They were interested in growing and learning while the catholic church just wanted to be correct. So at the end of the day some people will not change their mind unless forced to.