How Do We Change?

David McRaney/You Are Not So Smart:

Once something is added to your collection of beliefs, you protect it from harm. You do it instinctively and unconsciously when confronted with attitude-inconsistent information. Just as confirmation bias shields you when you actively seek information, the backfire effect defends you when the information seeks you, when it blindsides you. Coming or going, you stick to your beliefs instead of questioning them. When someone tries to correct you, tries to dilute your misconceptions, it backfires and strengthens them instead. Over time, the backfire effect helps make you less skeptical of those things which allow you to continue seeing your beliefs and attitudes as true and proper...

As social media and advertising progresses, confirmation bias and the backfire effect will become more and more difficult to overcome. You will have more opportunities to pick and choose the kind of information which gets into your head along with the kinds of outlets you trust to give you that information. In addition, advertisers will continue to adapt, not only generating ads based on what they know about you, but creating advertising strategies on the fly based on what has and has not worked on you so far. The media of the future may be delivered based not only on your preferences, but on how you vote, where you grew up, your mood, the time of day or year – every element of you which can be quantified. In a world where everything comes to you on demand, your beliefs may never be challenged.

A fascinating post and website that I highly recommend checking out.

My question would then be: how do we overcome our biases, open ourselves up to new possibilities, and change?  I used to be someone who had a fundamentally conservative view point about the world, and now I have changed to be someone who thinks rather differently.  I may have changed sides, but did I actually change the way I think?  It depresses me to think that I have merely switched the side towards which I am blind and biased.  

In religious terms, I've often asked people if there was any sort of "truth" that if they learned, would totally dismantle their faith.  I am not sure that faith should operate on this sort of level, but I think it is a question worth pondering.

-Tim