The Psychology of Conversion and the Nature of Belief
As part of our studies on safety beliefs we explore the psychology of conversion. One of the best ways to understand what the psychology of conversion is, is to study religious conversion. This also involves an understanding of cults and Cognitive Dissonance.
A good analysis of conversion is presented by Fazzino (2014) Leaving the Church Behind: Applying a Deconversion Perspective to Evangelical Exit Narratives (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13537903.2014.903664). IN this analysis a very good Venn diagram is shown to explain how people convert in and out of beliefs. You can see the diagram below:
One of the most important assumptions of the diagram is the idea of ‘movement’. Changing an idea or a belief in itself is not conversion, nor is it much more than a bit of discomfort. Shifting data is not learning. Unless there is some significant movement in ‘being’ there is no learning. This is why textbook learning can demonstrate comprehension of retaining and idea but unless a belief results in movement, it’s just data.
If we observe the diagram above it is in the centre overlap where Cognitive Dissonance occurs. It is at this point one either reframes beliefs or regresses more deeply into a cycle of sustaining the same belief.
I see so much in the Safety industry about trying to change belief. This is founded on the idea that if you believe the right thing, people will be safe. This is also the assumption of deontological ethics (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/the-ethics-of-risk/). However, the safety industry understands learning as just the sum of inputs and outputs, a behaviourist understanding of persons and, learning and belief doesn’t work this way. The idea behind this way of thinking is that once you are told something it must be believable. This is rationalism, anchored to behaviourism and why Safety is the industry of telling (https://safetyrisk.net/how-to-start-listening-and-stop-telling-in-safety/). The trouble is, telling doesn’t work (https://safetyrisk.net/telling-the-safety-way/).
If you really want to change hearts and minds in safety then, an understanding of conversion, Cognitive Dissonance, myth, semiotics and belief are just a start.
A fascinating example of conversion in and deconversion is a study of Hollnagel’s Resilience Engineering (RE). RE was a thought bubble by academic Erik Hollnagel in 2004. He later wrote a book on Resilience Engineering (2006) and set up a Resilience Engineering Association. A few months ago Hollnagel declared RE ‘Rest in Peace’ (https://www.incrementalsafety.com/onewebmedia/introduction%20%20to%20decremental%20and%20incremental%20safety%20oct%2007.pdf). Then a new thought bubble emerged – incremental and decremental safety. So, did the followers give up the belief in RE? Nup. Once converted into something its very hard to deconvert out, even when the founder declares is dead.
This is how Cognitive Dissonance works.
Festinger’s model (When Prophecy Fails) describes so neatly, what goes on in the conversion into cults.
The Resilience Engineering Association powers on (https://www.resilience-engineering-association.org/resources/where-do-i-start/; https://iea.cc/event/symposium-of-the-resilience-engineering-association-annual-resilient-health-care-society/).
BTW, resilience cannot be ‘engineered’ (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/everyday-social-resilience-being-in-risk/). No wonder it didn’t work.
This is how belief, Cognitive Dissonance and conversion work: develop an idea, convert people to it, develop a myth/semiotic to anchor to the belief, provide no methodology or method, run conferences, slogans and books on the idea, then ditch the idea and move to another one and watch the converts stay converted or, develop a new set of converts and re-cycle the process of myth.
It’s an age old story of the ebb and flow of cults and belief.
Prof. Robert Long
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I think any set of beliefs that acquire a large following can develop into a cult. For example, Carl Jung Explored a great mini ideas that became gospel. One is the Myers-Briggs personality theory.
I think that’s right Rosa. Often the cult comes in the distortion of a well-intentioned idea. People have a positive intention, it then develops into more than it is, is made myth, empowered by semiotic, endorsed by a guru, sold like snake oil, add in sunk cost, endorsed in slogans, salvation made conditional and there’s the revenue stream. Then once the congregation has been created all critical thinking stops, enemies must be demonised, critics isolated, dissent punished, slogans defended, guru made untouchable. That’s the way with many of the cultic groups in safety.