Certain beliefs that seem absurd and nonsensical to many of us, especially because they seem to go against all evidence, start to make sense when we realize that for each member of the human species, it is often more important to be seen as a good member of its group than it is to recognize the truth of the facts. If it is necessary to believe in something that is wrong or openly false to be part of a group—and to be recognized by peers as a legitimate member of that group—then that is what many will do. In fact, not conforming to the rules, norms, and beliefs of the group can have a consequence that is feared more than anything else: social death.
Normally when we feel threatened by something, the hypothalamus—a small portion of the brain located at the base and in between the two hemispheres—sounds the alarm. Nervous and hormonal signals produce a reaction in the body known as “fight-or-flight,” in which increases occur in heart rate, blood pressure, and energy supply to the muscles, heart, and brain; everything else that would not be needed in a fight-or-flight situation, such as digestion or immune defenses, is suppressed.
When we are confronted with facts and demonstrations that disprove what we believe, our bodies react exactly as if suddenly confronted by a lion. Jonas Kaplan, Sarah Gimbel, and Sam Harris (2016) were able to demonstrate this with an ingenious experiment. They selected a group of people with strong opinions, political or otherwise, and had each subject enter a functional MRI scanner. At this point, each person was randomly read either some neutral sentences or phrases that contradicted what they strongly believed. If, for example, a person believed in the right to own guns, he or she would be read the sentence: “The laws governing gun ownership in the United States should be more restrictive.” Or, if the person believed that guns were dangerous, the sentence read was: “Ten times more people are murdered with kitchen knives each year than are killed by assault weapons.” The goal was not to change the subjects’ minds but instead observe how their brains reacted to statements that contradicted their stated values.
The result was that people had the same kind of biological reactions they would have when faced with a real physical threat. In particular, blood flowed copiously to regions of the brain identified as the default mode network, an area that is activated, for example, when people are thinking about themselves, including in relation to others, remembering the past, or making plans for the future (Buckner et al. 2008). When meditation or hallucinogens induce a feeling of detachment from the self or the impression of being part of the world around us, this occurs because the default mode network is dampened. If, on the other hand, blood flows copiously to this area, the result is the opposite: To hell with what’s around us, let’s stick to our values!
“Remember that the brain’s first and primary job is to protect ourselves,” writes Jonas Kaplan. “That extends beyond our physical self, to our psychological self. Once these things [beliefs, attitudes, and values] become part of our psychological self, they are then afforded all the same protections that the brain gives to the body” (McRaney 2022). Beliefs of all kinds, religious, political—but also beliefs related to conspiracy theories—therefore help define who we are, define our identity, and are very important within the social group to which we belong. “To consider an alternative view,” Kaplan further says, “you would have to consider an alternative version of yourself” (University of Southern California 2016), which is not at all easy and risks social death.
References
Buckner, R.L., et al. 2008. The brain’s default network: Anatomy, function, and relevance to disease. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1124(1): 1–38.
McRaney, D. 2022. How Minds Change. New York, NY: Portfolio Penguin, 160.
Kaplan, J., S. Gimbel, and S. Harris. 2016. Neural correlates of maintaining one’s political beliefs in the face of counterevidence. Scientific Reports 6(1).
University of Southern California. 2016. Hardwired: The brain’s circuitry for political belief. Phys.Org (December 23).
Massimo Polidoro
Massimo Polidoro is an investigator of the paranormal, author, lecturer, and co-founder and head of CICAP, the Italian skeptics group. His website is at www.massimopolidoro.com.
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