Eli5: Why is it easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled?
In: 634
Generally speaking it’s because it’s usually embarrassing to be fooled by someone and (usually) makes you feel like you’re stupid. Most people aren’t going to enjoy that and will deny they’ve been totally fooled.
People don’t like to feel dumb or bad. If they’ve been fooled, they’ll feel dumb or bad. Easier to resist person convincing them they’ve been fooled.
To fool someone is to convince them of something they either didn’t know before or that they already believe. If it sounds good and or appeals to their [ideologies/beliefs/biases/fears/attractions/religion/anger/hate/conviction/etc etc] they’ll likely believe it.
People need to be vigilant in their objectivity, critical thinking, and empirical reasoning. For the things we believe in and the things we don’t. However, dumb shit don’t get an equal platform to proven science.
Short answer: Our brains are weird that way.
Long answer: Our brains have a network of internal processes designed to freeze out information. This can form cognitive bias responses that can actually lead people to disassociate facts from reality. This response is especially powerful when trying to change opinions, the brain can actually try to “protect” itself by believing something even stronger when presented with opposing evidence. This is why when a person is fooled and you try to convince them it can often have the opposite effect that you intended.
This can even lead down dangerous paths such as full on delusion and paranoia where people believe obviously false things. They believe that the world itself has bent around the false reality, but the brain itself is the culprit.
I think it has to do with people’s pride about being smart, but also with a combination of the anchoring effect (the first information you hear about something has more weight in your decision making and you use it as a reference for all new information) and the sunk cost fallacy (you have already invested a lot in something, so you don’t want to abandon it. In reality the time or money you’ve invested in something isn’t coming back so you shouldn’t really consider it in future decision making).
It’s much easier to learn something than it is to unlearn something.
They learned the person to be trustworthy. Unlearning that is difficult for many.
Because we are not as rational as we believe.
Psychologists conducted experiments to prove this, which is why marketers, politicians, con artists, and others take advantage of this aspect of human nature.
If you want to learn more about the principles of human nature, I recommend reading “Influence” by Robert Cialdini.
The book explains how these principles work and how they can be controlled. Giving us the ability to defend ourselves against those who want to take advantage.
You can only fool people with what they want to hear, such as “you will be rich without effort because I’m giving away my secrets to you for some reason”, but if you tell them something that negates that fantasy you’re telling them exactly what they don’t want to hear.
Conversely if they are among the first people to know the truth about a conspiracy then they will gain an elevated social status whereas if they are proven wrong they will merely be known as somebody who used to believe in something bizarre and that would lower their social status.
Usually you fool them about something they already believe or want to believe. To convince them they were fooled means their prior believe or wish was wrong.
In all people there is a phenomenon that the first idea, thought, or opinion on a subject is easiest to solidify. Any change after that is significantly more difficult.
We have a few things that go against us that are apart of being human. The first is we tend to believe the first information over second or third. The next is we are stubborn. Once we make a decision on a world view we view it as the only way forward. Lastly. When we come into contact with new information our brains literally hurt.
So new information is like eating ice cream. If you eat too fast your head hurts and your brain throws away the ice cream.
Further reading:
Anchoring effect https://www.pon.harvard.edu/daily/negotiation-skills-daily/the-drawbacks-of-goals
Overconfident bias (how you get duped also see dunning Kruger) https://www.schwabassetmanagement.com/content/overconfidence-bias
Eli5: Why is it easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled?
In: 634
Generally speaking it’s because it’s usually embarrassing to be fooled by someone and (usually) makes you feel like you’re stupid. Most people aren’t going to enjoy that and will deny they’ve been totally fooled.
People don’t like to feel dumb or bad. If they’ve been fooled, they’ll feel dumb or bad. Easier to resist person convincing them they’ve been fooled.
To fool someone is to convince them of something they either didn’t know before or that they already believe. If it sounds good and or appeals to their [ideologies/beliefs/biases/fears/attractions/religion/anger/hate/conviction/etc etc] they’ll likely believe it.
People need to be vigilant in their objectivity, critical thinking, and empirical reasoning. For the things we believe in and the things we don’t. However, dumb shit don’t get an equal platform to proven science.
Short answer: Our brains are weird that way.
Long answer: Our brains have a network of internal processes designed to freeze out information. This can form cognitive bias responses that can actually lead people to disassociate facts from reality. This response is especially powerful when trying to change opinions, the brain can actually try to “protect” itself by believing something even stronger when presented with opposing evidence. This is why when a person is fooled and you try to convince them it can often have the opposite effect that you intended.
This can even lead down dangerous paths such as full on delusion and paranoia where people believe obviously false things. They believe that the world itself has bent around the false reality, but the brain itself is the culprit.
I think it has to do with people’s pride about being smart, but also with a combination of the anchoring effect (the first information you hear about something has more weight in your decision making and you use it as a reference for all new information) and the sunk cost fallacy (you have already invested a lot in something, so you don’t want to abandon it. In reality the time or money you’ve invested in something isn’t coming back so you shouldn’t really consider it in future decision making).
It’s much easier to learn something than it is to unlearn something.
They learned the person to be trustworthy. Unlearning that is difficult for many.
Because we are not as rational as we believe.
Psychologists conducted experiments to prove this, which is why marketers, politicians, con artists, and others take advantage of this aspect of human nature.
If you want to learn more about the principles of human nature, I recommend reading “Influence” by Robert Cialdini.
The book explains how these principles work and how they can be controlled. Giving us the ability to defend ourselves against those who want to take advantage.
You can only fool people with what they want to hear, such as “you will be rich without effort because I’m giving away my secrets to you for some reason”, but if you tell them something that negates that fantasy you’re telling them exactly what they don’t want to hear.
Conversely if they are among the first people to know the truth about a conspiracy then they will gain an elevated social status whereas if they are proven wrong they will merely be known as somebody who used to believe in something bizarre and that would lower their social status.
Usually you fool them about something they already believe or want to believe. To convince them they were fooled means their prior believe or wish was wrong.
In all people there is a phenomenon that the first idea, thought, or opinion on a subject is easiest to solidify. Any change after that is significantly more difficult.
We have a few things that go against us that are apart of being human. The first is we tend to believe the first information over second or third. The next is we are stubborn. Once we make a decision on a world view we view it as the only way forward. Lastly. When we come into contact with new information our brains literally hurt.
So new information is like eating ice cream. If you eat too fast your head hurts and your brain throws away the ice cream.
Further reading:
Anchoring effect https://www.pon.harvard.edu/daily/negotiation-skills-daily/the-drawbacks-of-goals
Overconfident bias (how you get duped also see dunning Kruger) https://www.schwabassetmanagement.com/content/overconfidence-bias
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