Whose Beliefs
Rob Henderson writes one of my favorite newsletters. He has a lot to say about human group psychology, a subject I have found interesting for several years now. A few months ago, he published an overview essay summarizing a wide range of research on how it is that smart people—our elites in the social hierarchy—end up believing the things they believe. He opens his essay like so:
Many have discovered an argument hack. They don’t need to argue that something is false. They just need to show that it’s associated with low status. The converse is also true: You don’t need to argue that something is true. You just need to show that it’s associated with high status. And when low status people express the truth, it sometimes becomes high status to lie.
Just like you wouldn’t want to be seen wearing the wrong clothes at important social functions, you don’t want to be overheard espousing beliefs that are unfashionable in influential social circles.
The research analyzed people presumed to have social status, based on years of education and the exclusive nature of their schooling. Long years of academic schooling do not make people more receptive to ideas because the ideas are true. Instead, the social status of the ideas make some of them worth believing in. Believing things that are socially unacceptable in a person’s peer group may lead to loss of status.
In other words, what to believe is an active decision based on criteria other than objective truth. The point is a familiar one for Henderson, who popularized the concept of “luxury beliefs” based on his own past, growing up as a foster child who enlisted in the marines after high school and then went to Ivy League higher education. He witnessed that certain beliefs about reality were required for admission into high-status social circles.
In theory, the long years of academic schooling at the most prestigious universities in the world should bring a person closer to understanding fundamental truths. That is supposedly what all the schooling is for. But instead, the social pressures to believe things about the world are much more important for social inclusion. Loss of social inclusion means loss of status and influence. So it is much more important to conform with the group’s prevailing beliefs independent of the truth content of those beliefs.
The psychological research once again demonstrates the power of social pressure above all else. It reinforces the observation that we are overpowered by our innate desire to be part of a tribe. Henderson does a superb job of distilling the research here:
Our social brains process information not only by examining the facts, but also considering the social consequences of what happens to our reputations if we believe something.
Indeed, in his influential theory of social comparison processes, the eminent psychologist Leon Festinger suggested that people evaluate the “correctness” of their opinions by comparing them to the opinions of others. When we see others hold the same beliefs as us, our own confidence in those beliefs increases. Which is one reason why people are more likely to proselytize beliefs that cannot be verified through empirical means.
In short, people have a mechanism in their minds. It stops them from saying something that could lower their status, even if it’s true. And it propels them to say something that could increase their status, even if it’s false. Sometimes, local norms can push against this tendency. Certain communities (e.g., scientists) can obtain status among their peers for expressing truths. But if the norm is relaxed, people might default to seeking status over truth if status confers the greater reward.
Furthermore, knowing that we could lose status if we don’t believe in something causes us to be more likely to believe in it to guard against that loss. Considerations of what happens to our own reputation guides our beliefs, leading us to adopt a popular view to preserve or enhance our social positions. We implicitly ask ourselves, “What are the social consequences of holding (or not holding) this belief?”
It’s not just fringe cults that require an earnest profession of belief to be accepted as a member. It’s also a requirement for membership in clubs that have the greatest prestige, power, and authority. The truth value of certain beliefs is demonstrated by the social status of the people who believe in them.
Henderson goes on to explore the effects of this group decision-making process. Because we are social-status-seekers by nature, we are just as likely to judge others by their outward signs of status first so as to decide whom to believe. That, too, makes good sense, in that individuals who have high status clearly have done many things right—including believing things that, if not objectively true, at least are clearly important to believe.
Thus, someone who lives in an exclusive neighborhood and has the material tastes to fit in often judges others first by their fashion tastes. If they appear to be part of the tribe, they are more likely to be trusted and believed.
The corollary to this is that having the wrong beliefs can be very costly. The wrong beliefs can lose a person their prestige, influence, and power. Such costly beliefs can easily be discarded with no need for reflection. They reduce the person’s rank in the social hierarchy. Who would want to believe such things if they come at such a high cost?
While it is quite a long essay, it really is quite fascinating: read the whole thing.
Just saying HI, a bit chilly but, no snow ( which works for me) here.
Lots of people here have some kind of stomach flu or respiratory thing going on.
Gas has been real cheap, which is nice
I have to get my new lenses for my glasses tomorrow and a hair appt Wednesday...
So, nothing exciting or interesting, good or bad going on.
Interesting piece Marque, though I am not surprised. I love sociology and psychology and and considered majoring in one or both...why people do what they do has always fascinated me.
Good morning! Saturday I discovered Covid was behind my ongoing physical and mental misery. But the drugs have kicked in, the sun is out and hope is easier to see. Onward!