Today my daughter was trying to put a water filter in the system. When it wouldn’t go right in, she immediately said this is the wrong filter. It occurred to me that she was automatically accusing the environment of changing so that she would not have to accept that she was in error. I started to think about this topic and here is what I found to be most interesting.
Safety in being right
The human mind is amazing. It works both consciously and sub-consciously. The lizard brain maintains most of the autonomic functions (heart rate, digestions, breathing, etc.) The mind does not come with a user’s manual. Therefore, the knowledge we now have has been discovered through observation and scientific experimentation including dissection. That’s why the sciences of the mind keep evolving. However, there are some very simple foundations. The brain is designed to help survive the race. This means not dying so the body can procreate to continue the species.
This in mind if we were to knowingly consume poison, jump off a cliff or fight a wild animal with our bare hands, we would never survive as a species. This is in our core mentality to avoid such dangers. This carries over into our current mindset. Because so many people in modern day’s society are at a heightened sense of concern for danger. This is called stress, more specifically a state of distress. This is the bad stress that causes a litany of conditions such as heart attacks, strokes and has been linked by the medical community to cause cancer to grow more actively. This kept in mind the overwhelmed mind is causing a constant state of alert in hopes of not being wrong. In this state, the mind constantly looks for potential danger.
Consumer dissonance
With the thought of survival in mind, each buying decision can compromise the number of resources available. Once the resources run out either more must be found, created or the body could
potentially die. Many more expensive decisions are researched; much more are researched and judged after the purchase is made. With our without the ability to return or undue the purchase, the brain will still analyze decisions based on the objectives of the outcome of the purchase. Simply put people often question if it was a good decision or not. This is important; it allows feedback to the product creator, the individual’s tribe as well as the individual themselves. If they like the product, they can recommend it. If they don’t, they can share information to prevent their tribe from also purchasing and using the product which helps the tribe to survive by allowing better allocation of resources.
So how does this possibly correlate with consumerism? Unfortunately, the human mind is wired to believe it is in a state of lack, which contradicts almost everything the law of attraction is defined by. The mind is, therefore, looking for potential errors in the buying decision; which also goes against the minds need for certainty and confidence in the decision that was already made. The mind is naturally in conflict with the purchase. The mind needs to both be confident it has made the correct decision and be sure that the product purchased was actually the same value or more value then was traded for it. This is a difficult position of imbalance.
Sometimes things are right, and we are not
…Getting back to my story about the filter and the pitcher. My daughter was convinced that the product was defective or I had purchased the wrong one. I picked it up and turned the filter it fit right in. When a product is made through mass production, and it is of quality the expectation of consistency is provided by the system. The entire purpose of a system is to create consistency, and if run properly it is created in the most efficient way possible. Therefore, my daughters need to believe she was right and the system was failing was not only incorrect, but it actually was detrimental to the whole of the situation. She wasted time disagreeing that it would work. Because she insisted she was correct, there was a chance I may not have checked it for myself, and instead traveled back to the store to replace it. There was even a chance of the store giving me a replacement when there was no need to replace it. Costing time, gas, manpower all because someone wasn’t willing to look outside the box for the answer to a question they answered incorrectly.
At face value, the thought of being wrong can be overwhelming because we often tie activities that lead to being
wrong will overwhelm us. In fact, many people panic at the thought of admitting that they are wrong. They will even lie to cover up the fact that they were wrong. It’s ultimately a fear of failure that we sustain at our central belief system as unacceptable, as we hold ourselves to a much higher standard then we hold others. It’s directly wired to the fear of being kicked out of the tribe and losing the chances of survival. These fears are often unfounded as others don’t usually hold us to such high standards either. We actually make up scenarios in our mind that will lead us to a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure. If left unchecked this fear of being wrong will run our lives and usually lead to less then satisfactory outcomes.
As humans, we are wired for survival. The idea of being wrong not only has implications for potentially affecting the survival, but it also can affect the tribe that depends on us. This being kept in mind people often will wish to believe and defend the position of their decision. It even transcends loyalty to products, companies and personal relationships that may be toxic because someone is not willing to change their mind that the situation is toxic. Therefore, if you find yourself in the position believing you are right, it may be warranted to examine the real benefits of the outcome to be sure you are still be being benefited by your prior decisions and experiences.