the pain of inconsistency
People who have taken some kind of intro psych course would have probably been introduced to the concept of cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance is the idea that people feel very bad when they experience inconsistency within themselves. For example, I felt conflicted in evolution class as a then-staunch Christian. Inconsistency might also happen when I do something that contradicts what I believe. For example, I cheat on an exam when I believe that it's not right to do so. The motivation to reduce this inconsistency is extremely strong. For instance, after I had cheated, I might rationalize that cheating isn't so bad-- if many of my friends cheat, then surely it is not such a big deal?
Now cognitive dissonance is an indisputable finding. But I've wondered why do people insist on being so consistent? Why would they would actually feel so uncomfortable, to the extent that they would either revise their beliefs about certain issues, or actually change the way they behave just so that this consistency restored? Why cant we just go on living as inconsistent beings? In fact, aren't we already living, to varying extents, like inconsistent beings? For example, I had thought evolution to be an extremely compelling idea, even though it challenged many of my existing religious beliefs. It's true that we can argue that evolution and religion (and Christianity in particular) are not necessarily theoretically conflicting, but I feel, and I emphasize that this is really my subjective feeling, that the fact that religious Christians are so resistant to the idea of evolution shows that evolution does in fact challenge many Christian beliefs. But what did that mean for me? Even though I felt very conflicted, I learnt to compartmentalize-- it's almost as if I had split into two persons. I feel like a very different person in university and in church, and I did not want to bring either aspect of myself into the other "compartment".
Upon reflection, I think my experiences suggests that this pain of inconsistency stems from our need to maintain a coherent sense of self. For example, if I knew a person who is very moral and then learnt that he had committed a very heinous crime,I will doubt if the crime had really been committed by my friend. If subsequent evidence shows that my friend is criminally liable, then I might exclaim-- why I hardly know this person anymore!
But why might we want to maintain a coherent sense of self? We can try to imagine the alternative-- we as beings with a set of incoherent beliefs and conduct arbitrary acts. I find such an existence to be viscerally unappealing. The appearance of consistency might be important in social contexts-- people like predictable people. We like people who keep their word and act in ways that reflect their values and beliefs. Personally I dont think I can work with someone who changes what they believe in randomly and frequently, and often do things that are incongruous with their beliefs (if that is even possible).
Now cognitive dissonance is an indisputable finding. But I've wondered why do people insist on being so consistent? Why would they would actually feel so uncomfortable, to the extent that they would either revise their beliefs about certain issues, or actually change the way they behave just so that this consistency restored? Why cant we just go on living as inconsistent beings? In fact, aren't we already living, to varying extents, like inconsistent beings? For example, I had thought evolution to be an extremely compelling idea, even though it challenged many of my existing religious beliefs. It's true that we can argue that evolution and religion (and Christianity in particular) are not necessarily theoretically conflicting, but I feel, and I emphasize that this is really my subjective feeling, that the fact that religious Christians are so resistant to the idea of evolution shows that evolution does in fact challenge many Christian beliefs. But what did that mean for me? Even though I felt very conflicted, I learnt to compartmentalize-- it's almost as if I had split into two persons. I feel like a very different person in university and in church, and I did not want to bring either aspect of myself into the other "compartment".
Upon reflection, I think my experiences suggests that this pain of inconsistency stems from our need to maintain a coherent sense of self. For example, if I knew a person who is very moral and then learnt that he had committed a very heinous crime,I will doubt if the crime had really been committed by my friend. If subsequent evidence shows that my friend is criminally liable, then I might exclaim-- why I hardly know this person anymore!
But why might we want to maintain a coherent sense of self? We can try to imagine the alternative-- we as beings with a set of incoherent beliefs and conduct arbitrary acts. I find such an existence to be viscerally unappealing. The appearance of consistency might be important in social contexts-- people like predictable people. We like people who keep their word and act in ways that reflect their values and beliefs. Personally I dont think I can work with someone who changes what they believe in randomly and frequently, and often do things that are incongruous with their beliefs (if that is even possible).