October 21, 2010

Shouts Banish Doubts

Shouts Banish Doubts

An interesting article on doubt and advocacy: the more one doubts, the more one advocates his or her position in an effort to convince one's self in the rightness of his or her beliefs. The case example is the tea baggers:

If confidence in one’s core tenets becomes shaky, a common response is to proselytize all the more vigorously. The apparent reason ... is that advocacy on behalf of one’s beliefs helps banish any uncomfortable lack of certainty. “Although it is natural to assume that a persistent and enthusiastic advocate of a belief is brimming with confidence ... the advocacy might in fact signal that the individual is boiling over with doubt.”

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