I used to be surprised when I couldn’t convince a person of some of my ideas by giving obvious arguments. It seemed to me then that if I couldn’t convince, it was because of my personal inability to do so.,

but when I began to study Classical Psychology closely, I found a simple explanation for this and exhaled.…

“People don’t like it when conflicting ideas collide in their minds: values, ideas, beliefs, emotions. To get rid of the conflict between attitudes, we unconsciously look for those points of view that fit in with our views.”

/12 cognitive distortions inherited by mankind from distant ancestors and preventing us from rationally perceiving reality/

Unfortunately, people tend to be coherent in their understanding of the world. When conflicting ideas or values arise in the mind, it can cause discomfort, and people try to get rid of this discomfort by finding points of view that are consistent with their existing beliefs.

1. Political beliefs: Imagine that a person has always been a supporter of a certain political party that advocates lower taxes. At the same time, he is confronted with new evidence that tax cuts lead to a deterioration in the quality of public services. This person may begin to ignore or discredit this data in order to maintain their original beliefs about the party. He may be looking for information that confirms his views rather than refutes them.
2. Healthy lifestyle: Let’s say someone thinks it’s important to lead a healthy lifestyle and monitor their diet. However, he also likes sweets and eats them often. When he is confronted with information about the dangers of sugar, it can cause an internal conflict. To solve it, he can start looking for articles that claim that moderate sugar consumption is not as harmful as it seems, or that he has a “right to pleasure.”
3. Social relations: A person who considers himself kind and helpful may encounter a situation where his close friend says that he feels betrayed. This can cause cognitive dissonance, as self-image and friend’s opinions conflict. To deal with this, a person may start looking for excuses for their behavior, such as thinking that a friend is too sensitive or misinterpreting their actions.

These examples also illustrate cognitive biases such as:

Confirmation bias: People tend to seek and interpret information in a way that confirms their existing beliefs, ignoring or rejecting conflicting data.

• Anchoring effect: People may rely too much on the first information they encounter, and this may influence their subsequent decisions and opinions.
• Emotional reasoning: People can make decisions based on their emotions rather than logic or facts, which can also lead to conflict between their beliefs.

Thus, the desire for coherence in our thoughts and emotions can lead to ignoring or distorting information, which makes it difficult to rationally perceive reality.