In an ideal world, the presentation of objective facts should naturally lead individuals to revise their beliefs. But experience tells us a very different reality: we are trapped in our beliefs and opinions, even absurd ones, and we often remain unshaken in the face of contrary evidence. Donald Trump’s MAGA (Make America Great Again) electoral base is an extreme textbook case that fascinates researchers. But, as always, there is a “but…”, and the lesson is not what it seems.
A very interesting article (Inside the MAGA mind) delved into the mentality of Donald Trump’s voters, and in particular his group of ardent supporters, the MAGA. One of the most surprising phenomena about them is their ability to believe things that are patently false, even frankly absurd. No factual correction, no investigative report, no denunciation of their candidate’s shortcomings can shake their devotion. This is not simply a matter of ignorance. They are not simply misinformed; they are misinformed.
The article explains this phenomenon by several psychological mechanisms that are deeply rooted in our cognitive functioning. We tend to favor information that reinforces our pre-existing beliefs, our mental models, and to discount information that contradicts them. We actively filter the facts, giving more credence to those that are consistent with our worldview. Our models are designed to protect us from chaos by giving us a reading of the world that satisfies us. Any fact that undermines this reading is rejected because our psychological survival depends on it.
A belief, even a false one, is very useful because it gives prejudice a logical and rational appearance. For example, during the election campaign, Trump accused Haitian immigrants of eating Americans’ dogs. This accusation was obviously baseless, but it was repeated over and over by the MAGA movement. Subscribing to it allows me to hate Haitians while convincing myself that it’s not out of racism, but for a good reason. It makes you feel rational.
Social identity also plays a crucial role. A group is always united by beliefs. Questioning those beliefs would weaken our position within that group, causing considerable psychological discomfort and endangerment. If my friends also say that Haitians eat dogs, I am confirmed in my thinking and my group is unified around a common enemy. In other words, a belief, even an absurd one, provides psychological security: I am rational, I am right to feel my emotions, and I am not alone; we form a group that must defend itself against others. This points to a very important lesson in psychology, which is that belief is a social phenomenon. Contradictory facts will not change a firmly held belief if our social identity depends on it.
We are all trapped in our beliefs
But the most important lesson of the article is not there. It lies in what it does not say, or in what it assumes… that is to say, in the beliefs of the author. First, he assumes that it is obvious to determine whether a belief is absurd or not. But it is often a value judgment. Believing that Haitians eat dogs is certainly absurd, but believing that the economic system is not in your favor is not. In other words, every belief has some degree of more or less solid foundation, and a little nuance in this matter would be welcome.
Second, the author assumes that only MAGA people have absurd beliefs. He ignores the equally strong beliefs of Democrats. Each side has its loyalists who are locked into their extreme beliefs. Unfortunately, this is not a privilege of the far right. The left also has a long history of being locked into absurd beliefs, as we saw in the USSR under Stalin, in China under Mao, and even today. Granted, some MAGA beliefs are by far more extreme and bizarre, but that doesn’t change anything. Research on political disinformation also suggests that both extreme sides of the political spectrum are resistant to disturbing facts. It is less a right-left opposition than a moderate-extreme opposition. Thus, it’s a case of an error of interpretation, i.e., of the author’s mental model.
Third, the author ignores that the beliefs of one camp are also the product of the actions of the other, and that the two reinforce each other dialectically. Focusing on the MAGA phenomenon without taking into account the sociological evolution and currents of thought on the Democratic side is a bit like studying walking by looking at only one leg.
The sawdust and the plank…
In a very involuntary and unconscious way, the author of the article actually demonstrates that everyone has their own limitations, including him, who claims to be very rational. More generally, “people” trapped in stupid beliefs are also us, to varying degrees. To take just one example, 28% of French people are said to believe in astrology. Every day I meet people who are stuck in beliefs that I find absurd. Although I am convinced of the opposite, I am probably also, yes, even I, a prisoner of such beliefs. So the problem is not so much the imprisonment as the belief that only “the others” are imprisoned. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?”
The MAGA phenomenon is certainly fascinating from a social-psychological point of view, and it challenges us a lot about the ability of a group to believe absurd things. But we would benefit from more serious studies than those simply based on unconscious prejudices in order to truly understand the driving forces behind it. Here, as elsewhere, if we want to give ourselves the ability to understand a phenomenon that seems strange to us, we must be wary of our prejudices. This requires an open-mindedness that is specific to science, which requires scientists to state their hypotheses before embarking on a study. Failure to do so contributes to reinforcing the narrow-mindedness we claim to denounce.
🇫🇷 A version in French of this article is available here.
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