The Power of Dissonance
People tend to associate with people most like them. We hang out with people with similar hobbies, career paths, social circles and viewpoints. There’s a certain level of comfort in surrounding yourself with people like yourself.
Comfort, however, is not often equal to progress. When it comes to expanding your mind to new possibilities and advancing your knowledge and skills, a little dissonance goes a long way.
One popular phrase you hear thrown around is the “wisdom of crowds” – the many are smarter than the few. However, it is important to note that the wisdom of crowds does not equal crowd psychology (the power of people acting collectively). Instead, the wisdom of crowds is only true when the crowd consists of a variety of people with different viewpoints, opinions and backgrounds.
Why is it that we need this diversity to excel and grow? It’s because as we become certain that something is true, our mind locks onto that idea. We have a tendency to filter out any information that may conflict with our firmly held opinions, and only focus on those that support them. This behavior, of course, strengthens our existing opinions and sheds no light on alternate solutions and beliefs that may be superior to the ones we have chosen to latch onto.
As Jonah Lehrer says in How We Decide, “The only way to counteract the bias for certainty is to encourage some inner dissonance. We must force ourselves to think about the information we don’t want to think about, to pay attention to the data that disturbs our entrenched beliefs.”
The way to overcome our certainties, and to challenge ourselves to new heights of accomplishments and knowledge is to consider other perspectives than our own, to surround ourselves with people who will challenge our beliefs. And then we must listen. We must not filter out their commentary, we need to consider it and view our problems with a fresh perspective. That’s how we develop our skills and that’s how we create new, innovative solutions.
5 Smart Things Were Said
01/7/2010
Just looking for inspiration in work when I came across this article. It is very good and I agree entirely. It reminds me of Friedrich Nietsche’s quote, ‘The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.’ Anyway just thought i’d leave a comment. :D
01/7/2010
Great quote! Hadn’t heard that one before, but it’s going to be added to my list now.
01/7/2010
Hey Tim,
Good to see you are posting again.
With respect to this particular post, although i agree with your point in principle, I have a hard time with it in practice.
For example, what would you say about the recent childish display in the US Senate while ‘debating’ health-care?
All the parliamentary maneuvering undertaken to obscure the truth and ensure that posturing took the place of reasoning made me sick.
…Bill
01/8/2010
@Bill – I think that’s a different scenario though. Childish ‘debating’ is not the form of dissonance I am referring to here. In fact, that kind of behavior is simply evidence of ‘bias for certainty’. Neither side, in such situations, is actually opening themselves up to thoughtfully consider the opposing views.
The key to constructive dissonance is respect. Debate is a key principle in dissonance, but it needs to be intelligent, respectful debate – debate where opposing points are considered and countered with a relevant and thought-out counter argument.
So part of the challenge is not simply to create dissonance for the sake of doing so, but to surround yourself with people who will foster a level of constructive dissonance.
01/11/2010
Happy to see you posting again. What an excellent post, keep them coming.