Why Do Epiphanies Happen?

[Ginevra]

I'm reading the book You Are Now Less Dumb, which I find fascinating. It's a topic that endlessly fascinates me, why people do/think/believe as they do. I was just reading about The Backfire Effect, which states that people do not, as we would like, change their minds when faced with new, compelling information that contradicts their held beliefs. They are much more likely to dig in and hold to their belief more fiercly than before reciving the new information.

 

Clearly, this is true. I've witnessed it a bazillion times. I've surely done it a thousand times! However! I have also had the rare epiphany. There have been instances - in many cases, I remember them vividly - where new information turned on like a 1000-watt bulb in my brain and I went, "OH! Well, blow me down. I think that (other way of thinking) is correct!"

 

Why does that sometimes happen, though? 99 times in 100, new evidence only makes a belief-holder defend his or her view more stridently. Gathering and presenting facts are nearly always a waste of time; the contender is fixed in belief and will not alter it no matter what ridiculously obvious information to the contrary is presented. But there's that 1 time when it doesn't work this way?

 

Why?

[PrincessMommy]

I don't know.  I suspect the information/thought/idea must come at just the right time when someone is already beginning to question their long-held belief or idea.

 

I'm sure it almost always has to do with personal experience rather than some well put argument in favor of the new idea/thought. 

 

I think it would be interesting to study how men/women differ in changing their minds about a long-held belief or idea.   In my own circle of friends it seems like as women age they become more open to different ideas.  Men seem to become more stuck in their ways.  But, that is just my own small circle of friends.

[MercyA]

I've changed my mind on many significant topics, including the age of the earth, war and patriotism, animal rights, the doctrine of eternal security, and modest dress / head coverings for women.

 

As far as the theological issues go, most of the changes came after a crisis of faith. I won't get into the details, but afterwards I realized I had been reading the Bible with quite a few preconceived notions about what it said. I decided to attempt to let the Scripture speak for itself, without trying to make it fit into any particular system, and my mind was changed.

 

My husband is intellectually honest, genuinely righteous, and (literally) a genius, and I trust him implicitly. Based on what he's taught me about science, I changed my mind about the age of the earth (and am now an Old Earth Creationist).

 

My parents, husband, and Scripture have been instrumental in changing my mind about war and patriotism. It's been a process, and I think also an outgrowth of my interests in animal rights and pro-life issues.

 

Information found in books and online, along with owning a dog for the first time, convinced me that I had been blind to the many significant characteristics animals share with humans and the realities of how they are often treated. 

 

I'd like to think some of these changes are the result of becoming older and wiser. ;) However, it really does seem to me that some people are just more open to considering new information and considering that they might, in fact, be wrong.

 

My parents have always said, "We just want to know the truth, no matter what it is," and I'm very thankful for their influence.

Edited May 14, 2016 by MercyA

[Farrar]

One thing I've noticed is that it's a little easier for a person to have a... I don't know about an epiphany, but a big change of perspective... is if you give them the chance to save face despite having dug in.

[Carol in Cal.]

I remember one.

 

I went to see Betty Friedan speak at a women's conference in 1979.  I was around 21 at the time.

 

I had not objected to feminism, but I kind of thought that the war was already won legislatively, and that now it was time to come together and excel and be as strong and effective as we could.  Anyway, she pretty much converted me to feminism, though she was taking a lot of potshots from people who didn't think she went far enough.  And how she did it was describing my mother and every other housewife I knew, exactly, and then proposing what should change to make things better for women.  And it made sense, and that was pretty much that for a long time.

 

If what she had said didn't so exactly match my observations, I wouldn't have been so convinced so quickly.

Edited May 13, 2016 by Carol in Cal.

[nevergiveup]

This is a timely topic for me since I was wondering the exact thing as I argued to my neighbor that all Muslims are not out to "kill the infidels" (us). 

PrincessMommy would like to see the difference in men/women about changing their minds, I would like to see the difference in atheists/believers since in my circle of friends, the atheists are more likely to study all angles and then make a decision whereas the firm believers will rarely do so.

[Guest]

One thing I've noticed is that it's a little easier for a person to have a... I don't know about an epiphany, but a big change of perspective... is if you give them the chance to save face despite having dug in.

I think you are right. I have found that in interacting with DH when our views are opposite, it is better if I do not express my opposing view too stridently. He is stubborn and so am I. The more passionately I say it is Black, the more intensly he defends that it's White. OTOH, if I shrug and go, "Eh, well...it looks Black to me," there's more room for him to save face.

 

This is not to say I am so great at following my own advice, however.

[Guest]

I don't know. I suspect the information/thought/idea must come at just the right time when someone is already beginning to question their long-held belief or idea.

 

I'm sure it almost always has to do with personal experience rather than some well put argument in favor of the new idea/thought.

 

I think it would be interesting to study how men/women differ in changing their minds about a long-held belief or idea. In my own circle of friends it seems like as women age they become more open to different ideas. Men seem to become more stuck in their ways. But, that is just my own small circle of friends.

That's an interesting point. I'd like to see some information about that, too. From my very small sample size of one man and one woman whom I know very well, this is the case. ;)