Inventing Logic

July 22, 2008 – 6:50 pm by terri

 

 

Human beings have some natural tendencies which can be used against them to gain their compliance or their conversion or the sale. Three of these are Consistency, Social proof and Saving Face (Phrases coined by Robert Cialdini)

Once a person has committed themselves to something, they seem to defend it. People cannot easily separate themselves from their opinions, and generally tend to be compelled to be consistent. A good example can be found in the Christian ‘born again’ movement. Once a person has been converted and ‘saved’, then even though they are new converts and lack any of the details or Biblical information of their new found faith, they will invent all manner of persuasive arguments to get their friends and family members to accept their conversion, and they will attempt to convert others, even though they can’t possibly know what they are talking about yet.

The old saying ‘bull dust baffles brains’ is very accurate because if an argument is put forward with conviction and enthusiasm by someone who is being charismatic or forceful with it, those listening tend to become mesmerised and will try to understand. If words or concepts used don’t make sense, then the listener has to choose whether to risk looking stupid by admitting lack of cognition, or to confront the speaker and outright say it is not making sense. An unconscious battle ensues, both internally and between speaker and listener. The one with the most confidence will generally win.

A lady was hypnotised and given a post hypnotic suggestion to take off her shoe and fill it with wine at the buffet table. When she was doing this, people asked her what she was doing, and she invented reasons, as logical as she could think up on the spot, to explain her actions and make them seem acceptable to save face.

People are compelled to look good in the eyes of others. Most people lack sufficient self esteem and are victims of their own egos. People want to be liked and they want to be right and they want to be ‘normal’. Embarrassment, humiliation or rejection, or versions of it, are far scarier to most people than death. Countless thousands of people of all ages over the years have committed suicide when faced with it. A fairly well known research study conducted in America and repeated in England proved that when faced with a choice between forced to deliver a speech in public or die, more than half the people chose to die, and when pushed, meant it.

Once a person has said they believe in something or agree with something, they attempt to remain consistent with what they said, even to their own detriment. When people doubt their own choices or beliefs or statements, they suffer great discomfort, called cognitive dissonance. To relive the discomfort, they’ll invent any kind of ‘logic’ and create a way to reconcile the contradiction, the traitor being in their own hearts and minds. If a person is manipulated into buying something they don’t want, they are more likely to find good reason to justify their purchase, even if only to themselves. When ridiculed for their purchase, they are again likely to invent good reasons for their actions rather than admit they were manipulated.

When people don’t know what to choose or what to do, they usually look to see what others are doing and follow the crowd. Advertisers use this by getting famous people to endorse products, or use words like ‘don’t be left behind’, ‘get with it’, ‘have you xxx yet?’, ‘Everyone is doing it’ and so on. Then there are those rare few who like to be original and unique, and these are very proud to be original and unique, and so they are made compliant by being given an opportunity to be original and unique. When you get a ‘unique and original’ seeker, you can easily cash in on Consistency and Saving Face in place of Social Proof.

The human mind can be relied upon to invent logic and create a good argument and make up stuff on the spot, and once the person has done this, they actually convince themselves too, all because of these three of the many default settings inherent in the human psyche. Perhaps the only way to protect ourselves is to become aware of all the default settings, become totally independent of the good or bad opinion of others, to be willing to laugh at ourselves and to be willing to separate ourselves from our opinions. Only then will be able to control our hearts and minds and remain intelligently objective.

Terri Ann Laws