Choosing between logic and Emotion- How we fall prey to maintaining consistency

Today I read a chapter on the consistency bias existent in human psychology. Robert Cialdini points out that humans tend to stay consistent with their thoughts, frameworks, and mindsets.

He stated his personal experience with Transcendental Meditation (TM). He and his friend who was also a social scientist went to the seminar of TM where they claimed that they could relieve humans of their life issues such as stress, and health problems, and put them on the path to spirituality. They would be uplifted from the mundane of the world and feel the bliss of enlightenment through various meditations and practices. They went on to preach that at an advanced level, you can even fly through the walls and be at different places at different times. Both of them observed the mystical claims of the preachers and were increasingly amazed at each claim.

Then, when the preachers were finished with their session which had multiple guests, the friend who by now was visibly fumed threw a volley of questions at the preachers. He questioned the claims on a logical and scientific rationale to which the preachers had no answers. There was an uneasy silence and the preachers seemed stumped.

Then everyone got up and to the surprise of Cialdini and his friend, there were multiple people who enrolled for the $75 program which the preachers had intended to sell. The preachers were giggling after pocketing many memberships despite knowing they had been put in an uncomfortable situation. When people had seen that preachers had no answers to the valid questions put to them, they still went on to buy the course.

Cialdini and his friend were then approached by e members who had bought into the course. Cialdini observed that they had purchased the course because they had great expectations from TM. They acknowledged that the questions were very valid and the preachers had no answer to them but they had committed themselves into believing that TM was good and would certainly benefit them. Their mind wanted to stay consistent with their belief and thus made them pull out their cheques to avoid any inconsistencies developing in their mind. They had great expectations from TM and the only way that seemed to stay consistent with their belief was to pull the trigger and pay for the course hoping that what they thought would come true.

This experience shows that people are willing to avoid realities and rather stay consistent with their pre-set notions. If I have invested exceeding emotions in a belief be it a sect, religion, or mindset then it takes effort to change that belief.

We have seen this in the case of followers of Gurmeet Ram Raheem (Dera Sacha Sauda) and Asaram. Despite knowing that their guru had committed heinous crimes, people were not willing to accept the dictates of the law. They were rather willing to face the might of the state against the incarceration of their beloved guru. This is the reason that we can still see the followers converge at the ashrams of these gurus when they are out on parole. Followers want to believe this is a conspiracy against their sect but they want to be blind to the facts.

I am also reminded of my own mistake in 2007 when I coerced my mother to buy me a car after I joined college. My father was violently against this and went furious when I brought the car home and crashed it on the gate. I had purchased that car from a seller through a trusted broker who happened to be a cousin of my friend. I trusted them blindly for the sake of my friend.

The car was shiny and even had a LED screen for watching videos. I was too lost in the thought of seeing myself drive that car to college and impress my peers. By then I had invested too much emotion into the idea of owning a car. Not really any car but a luxury sedan car. I paid no heed to the suggestions from friends that Ford cars are not generally good as second-hand cars and the services suck. Also, there is a chance that the owner rewinds the odometer to a lower figure to show that the car is less driven.

The moment I test-drove the car I set in concrete my desire to own it. I forgot to place any checks and balances. Fueled by the trust of the broker who could not think wrong for me I pulled the trigger to buy the car. I ended up owning the car for just 4 months in which the engine seized after 2 months and it was mostly in garages for repairs. It gave me and my mother anxiety and nightmares. I can never forget the pain that I went through during that period. It was finally sold off for an evident loss.

I had become a victim of the consistency bias of my mind. Had I stepped back and realized that the desperation of owning a cool car was making me crazy, I would have acted differently. I should have rather bought a brand-new smaller car which would have been less cool but would have not given me the nightmares.

So, we should assess our emotional investments in anything before taking a call on whether to go ahead. If you think that the desire is overpowering logic and rationality, you should step aside and let the consistency bias take a rest.