Emotions Overriding Logic

EMOTIONS OVERRIDING LOGIC

There are plenty of ways to use emotional responses that do not back up logic, and even to contradict it. One powerful tactic is shock and fear. Once someone is afraid, it doesn't matter whether the thing they're afraid of is real or not. Horror movies are still scary, although they're not real. Clickbait headlines and catchy slogans are also appealing to emotions instead of logic, and too often the logic doesn't hold up. Clickbait headlines often do not accurately reflect what is in the actual article, even if the article itself holds up logically. I read one recently that said “Letter invoking Article 50 declared illegal by judicial review”, which was astonishing to me. But when I read the article what it reported was actually that a retired doctor had decided that the letter invoking Article 50 was illegal and was trying to instigate a judicial review: very different. It doesn't even matter if you're not British and don't know what the furore over Article 50 is about, it should be clear that “X is declared illegal by judicial review” is not the same as “A retired doctor thinks X is illegal and is trying to instigate a judicial review”.

Catchy slogans often sound good but either don't make sense or have no content. “Weight is just a number”, people like to say, or “age is just a number”. But numbers can be very informative if they are treated in the right way. My weight happens to correlate very well with how much fat I'm carrying around my stomach, and hence with what clothes fit me. Certain medical risks go up with weight and with age. You might as well say “Medical risk is just a number”. Or even, when you're running a dangerous fever, “temperature is just a number”.

Fear causes people to override logic, and that is a good thing in emergency situations. But fabricating fear in order to get people to override logic is not a good thing. Fear also gets in the way in interpersonal situations even if it's not being used as a deliberate means of manipulation. If someone feels under attack it can cause them to override logic, or it causes them to be unable to use logic. Or it causes them to cling on much too strongly to a position they don't really hold. What we need, for productive arguments, is to find ways to build bridges between positions so that people can move, rather than cling on to a position because we've backed them into a corner. And, incidentally, for many people, even if they are open to changing their mind, it might be something they would rather do in private when nobody is looking, like changing clothes.