Your voting preference is only partly your decision. Quick, how did your parents vote? Is it the same way you do? Likely it is. We tend not to stray from our parents choices in the voting booth, in matters of religion and other “decisions” in our lives. The reason for this is our natural tendency to agree with our own thoughts and not go against the forces that have shaped us. Psychologist Leon Festinger named this phenomenon and it has proven out over many studies. Festinger’s Theory of Cognitive Dissonance explains that we are reluctant to “go against the grain” whether that is our parents or society. “Dissonance” (what Festinger calls this inconsistency) creates a psychological discomfort that urges the person to correct that difference. The magnitude of the disagreement or agreement with a position “increases as the importance or value of the elements increase.”(1.)
Voting differently from your parents creates an inconsistency and as we have been conditioned to think in a certain way since birth, it is difficult to go in another direction. We avoid or dismiss competing ideas. This dissonance occurs daily even in small choices we make. You went to the store for a black umbrella but it only offers them in red. Friends on social networks may display content that does not agree with your worldview. You are unlikely to click on their recommended link or read through the article. If you do, it will likely bother you more if it is contrary to your stance. A person does not hold an opinion that he considers wrong, so we tend to reinforce what we already believe. Family, cultural or group standards are tightly held. For example, in the U.S.A., many people keep horses as pets and most would not consider eating them. In France however, they eat horsemeat and raise special breeds for eating. It is not that we cannot change our minds and eat horse, but it creates an inconsistency in our minds and we are reluctant to do so.
Logical inconsistencies, cultural mores and past experience lay down the groove and we repeatedly play the same record. Each day is another chance for reinforcement of what we believe making it even harder for us to change our opinions as we age. We can reverse or at least neutralize this effect if we keep Festinger in mind and open ours.
source:
1. Festinger, Leon, A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance, Stanford Press, 1957, p.18.