Publicly Correcting Our Prior Criticism
What does it require, what is involved and how can we learn to discern better?
Publicly making shocking comments that are considered by some to be inflammatory or false, resulting in surprise, offense and criticism and eventually deciding to recant those words is not often done or easily communicated.
People either don’t change their mind or pride or fear gets in the way.
Not always, however.
Jerry Seinfeld has now said that he was not correct when he told The New Yorker in April that television comedy has been harmed by the extreme left and P.C. culture.
"There were two things that I have to say that I regret saying and I have to take back and I'm going to take them back... I did say that...,” the comedian and actor told fellow comedian Tom Papa on Papa’s "Breaking Bread" podcast. “That's not true. It's not true."
The ability and willingness to reconsider prior convictions of belief and decide to humbly, confidently express something different and maybe, more accurately, is worth talking about. Not everyone will bring themselves to do it, especially publicly.
To tap into achieve this skill and capacity, it requires a certain level of biological and psychological strength.
“Cognitive flexibility is an important part of this process,” says Mary Poffenroth, Ph.D., a neuro-hacking biopsychologist and STEM faculty member at San Jose State University. “It has to do with how the brain can adapt to new information and points of view, which lets people change the way they think and consider other points of view.”
She goes into more depth about how the mind functions.
“This adaptability comes from the fact that neural networks can change,” Poffenroth says. “This is especially true in the prefrontal cortex, which handles executive functions like making choices and thinking deeply.”
We can become more developed reasoning.
“Cognitive flexibility lets us add new information to our mental models when we come across information that goes against what we already believe,” Poffenroth says. “This could lead to a change in how we understand things.”
When a person exhibits this type of shift in their belief system and communicates it, it will get attention and prove revealing.
“The ability and willingness to reconsider beliefs, especially in public settings, reflects a complex interplay of various factors,” Poffenroth states. “It's not solely attributable to character, intelligence, habit or modeling but rather a combination of these and other elements.”
She goes on to explain.
“From a neurobiological point of view, this skill is connected to executive functions, which are higher-level mental tasks mainly controlled by the prefrontal cortex. Mental abilities like cognitive flexibility, inhibitory control and working memory are some of these. They all help people change their minds and say so in public,” Poffenroth details.
There’s more to the this type of evolution of decision analysis and someone’s “updated” communication about their changing conclusions.
“Intelligence, particularly emotional and social intelligence, plays a significant role,” Poffenroth says. “Emotional intelligence involves the ability to recognize and manage one's own emotions, as well as understand and influence the emotions of others. This set of skills is very important when changing your mind in public, which can be tricky.
“It's just as important to have social intelligence, which means correctly interpreting social situations and acting in a socially appropriate way. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the superior temporal sulcus are two parts of the brain that are linked to these types of intelligence.”
Habit is an important point.
“The brain is highly plastic, capable of forming new neural pathways through repeated behaviors. If an individual regularly engages in self-reflection and open dialogue about their beliefs, these behaviors can become habitual, strengthening the neural networks associated with flexible thinking and open communication.”
Examining or re-examining strong beliefs by stress testing them to determine if we see things differently is an exercise that needs a certain level of peace of mind.
“Fostering the capacity to reevaluate ideas and openly discuss changes depends on establishing a safe environment for communication—personal and professional,” Poffenroth says.
“This safety has a neurobiological basis as well as psychological ones. The brain's threat detection system, mostly run by the amygdala, is less active when we feel safe.”
That’s extremely beneficial to understand.
“More activity in the prefrontal cortex made possible by this lowered threat response helps to enable higher-order thinking and more careful evaluation of difficult concepts,” Poffenroth says.
“When you feel safe, your brain sends out neurotransmitters like oxytocin, which is also known as the ‘bonding hormone.’ Oxytocin builds trust and social bonds, which makes it easier for people to be open about their changing beliefs and be vulnerable.
“It also lowers activity in the amygdala, which makes the fear response even weaker and less likely to stop people from talking to each other.”
“By creating this kind of environment, we can make the brain conditions that support cognitive flexibility, an open mind and the courage to think about and talk about changing beliefs,” Poffenroth teaches.
“This method uses what we know about how the brain works to encourage more open, thoughtful and useful conversations about different points of view.”
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