I am right - you are wrong, and I am not emotional - KNOW-WHY.NET

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Description

This model is a reaction on one of the many fruitless discussions on social media where people resist the most rational and logical arguments in order to keep their mental model and also to feel good by thinking they are better than others.

Psychology knows (at least) three mechanisms to protect one's feeling of integration (see Kai Neumann's model on this: https://www.know-why.net/model/Atxrf7zQLpoe5JP2Uvumyjw):

cognitive dissonance (my final choice is good, everything else was bad)
psychological reactance (what others say is stupid, no one needs this)
learned helplessness (I can't do this anyway, so I don't have to try it and can remain where I am)

This model tries to explore a kind of psychological reactance, different from the archetype found here:

https://www.know-why.net/model/be81067d-21ad-4fb6-89da-592c0a29ab90

What would you say?

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One's mental model saying A

One's feeling of integration: knowing how things are

Others argue differently with B

Accepting one was wrong

One is happy

Others appreciate if one admits being wrong

Feeling of being better than others

Other sources for good feelings of integration and development

Attacking others

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Comments (4)

Kai Neumann replies Kai Neumann

Well, here is the model explaining the consequences from those echo-rooms: https://www.know-why.net/model/Ch9tMGPavgXzjmoT01YeR-Q

Reply

Kai Neumann

I have learned a new term: 'echo room' in the context social media. Places where people reconfirm each other with some simple opinions on otherwise complicated or complex stuff. Some people place - out of whatever motivation - a simple argument as a seed that allows others

to be against establishment,
to keep their criticised behaviour,
to simply hope to return to better times,
or to give others the fault for the current situation.

They then reconfirm each other in their 'knowledge how things are' and any attempt to explain the rather complex or complicated reality is doomed to fail leading to a situation where smart people give up which, well, reinforces things.

In my books I explain how believe and religion is a logical consequence of our biopsychology (The KNOW-WYH of human behaviour). Unfortunately, the current trend world wide ( https://www.know-why.net/model/CWejwGHa-455h-YLP7W9_rw ) leads to an unsustainable religion where people unconsciously vote for an increase in inequality, more exploitation of natural resources, more pollution, more xenophobia, etc..

People voted for Trump to be against Wall Street, inequality etc.. That is weird. This guy is interested in business and surrounds himself with people that are even more interested in their businesses.

Ancient church suppressed people who believed that this was right - it is the same psychological mechanism under completely different circumstances as we today have the internet and lack the physical threats. However, it is our fault as we do not explain the complex world and more important act accordingly.

Now we shouldn't just hope that the left rises against the right. We need to offer all the people a feeling of integration.

Reply

Emma

It inspires to build an enhanced model exploring the current trend that a certain type of attitude is very prominent in social networks while some other people get tired of stubborn argumentations

Reply

Kai Neumann

What a clever little model. At least four connections I thought had to be wrong but then giving it more thought I understood them. The Insight Matrix is tricky but plausible as well. I wonder how this could be connected to Francis Bacon's 'Idols of the tribe' in order to understand the tea partiers, climate change deniers or the Trump, Putin, Erdogan, etc. backers.

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