By: Elijah Pinkert
With the world at large, it has seemed to become more and more eventful over the last few years. Many people have also taken a liking to debating and arguing with other people over current events. Despite how well arguments can be presented, it is rare to see people actually change their minds over a topic. The entire point of debate is to convince people to agree with you, yet why does that never seem to happen?
Ultimately, the answer lies within the brain. Humans have a natural tendency to fight when threatened. While this functions in a variety of physical scenarios, it also transfers to debate. People feel threatened when somebody disagrees with them and fight for their ideas. This also means that the fight or flight response is activated, which means the release of adrenaline. Adrenaline heightens feelings of aggression, which makes people less susceptible to having their minds changed.
Another issue comes directly in the way humans process information. In an argument, information is passed around at a very fast pace, often too fast to be instantly processed. This causes many people to fall back on pre-existing biases or heuristics in an argument to judge the words of an opponent or an ally, which almost always falls within their own opinions. This is especially effective if there is a perceived difference in understanding between both sides of a debate. As Michael D. Cobb wrote in The American Journal of Political Science, “Social psychologists have found that people, especially those only peripherally involved in the outcome [of the debate], routinely defer to expertise and authority.”
The ultimate question then becomes how to prevent these situations from occurring. The answer lies within the mindset of those in an argument. Are they arguing to be right? In this situation, the chance of successfully changing somebody’s mind is very low. Both sides are completely content with their side and will be unwilling to lose any argumentative ground without the argument completely breaking down. The best way to prevent this from happening is to be aware of this. By being aware of why and how people are arguing, a debate is more likely to be effective.