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Why Facts, Alone, Don’t Change People’s Minds
What new science is teaching us about how beliefs change.
Twenty-five hundred years ago, Plato wrote an allegory about the relationship between rationality and emotion. In it, he described a chariot being pulled by two horses. The charioteer — the driver — represented intellect and reason, while the two horses represented our emotions. It’s challenging for us to steer the horses in the proper direction, Plato concluded, but it’s ultimately the driver — our rationality — that must do so.
At least in the West, this allegory is deeply ingrained in our cultures. We believe that it is up to our “rational minds” to overcome our “emotional minds” so that we can be good and upstanding people.
But, what if Plato’s allegory isn’t an accurate description of how our minds work? His allegory is compelling, but he didn’t have science as we know it today. And what science is teaching us is that the interaction between our rationality and emotions may not be so simple.
What science is teaching us about the mind
We all like to think we understand how our minds work. It feels like we understand. The thing is, science is frequently demonstrating how little we intuitively grasp the inner workings of our own minds.
