A book that has really helped me understand the mechanics of what keeps people stuck in the Witness religion is Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. The premise of the book can be illustrated as follows:
A bat and a ball together cost $1.10. The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?
Most people, with confidence, will answer that the ball costs $0.10, and they are absolutely wrong. If that was your answer, don’t worry. Harvard and MIT students who responded to the question got it wrong.
The part of the brain that initially tackles this question interprets the bat as costing $1.00. This would leave $0.10 for the cost of the ball. The question seems simple enough to go with what our brain initially tells us. This is an example of thinking fast.
The question is actually more complicated. The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball. The correct answer is that the ball costs $0.05 (with the bat costing $1.05, which is $1.00 more than the ball and, when added to the cost of the ball, totals $1.10). To arrive at the correct answer requires more careful thinking, perhaps with the aid of pencil and paper. This is an example of thinking slow.
Psychologists refer to the part of the brain that thinks fast, based on intuition, impression and interpretation, as “System 1.” The part of the brain that requires more time to analyze, calculate and verify (i.e., think slow) is identified as “System 2.”
System 1 is easier than System 2, and it feels much better. In the case of the Witnesses, it is a matter of preferring the simple concepts of “the truth” that are learned and stored in System 1, to the more difficult analysis of those concepts that occur in System 2.
I can remember how “safe” it felt to stay in System 1, with its answers for everything (as provided by the religion). I also remember how incredibly difficult it was to respond to the prodding of System 2, as when experiencing cognitive dissonance.
With respect to the teachings of the Witness religion, I think each of us has a trigger that causes us to spend more time in System 2. The effect of this is to then become aware of the fallacies we accepted while in System 1.
From his account in Crisis of Conscience, Ray Franz’s trigger was his and Ed Dunlap’s research for Aid to Bible Understanding. It is evident that both men were System 2 kinda guys. However for them to stay in System 2 given the consequences of what they were discovering, there had to be the sense that they were “on to something” important—a sense of purpose.
Although the circumstances of what triggered System 2 for us may not have been as dramatic or consequential as those that were experienced by Franz and Dunlap, the same components were present—the discovery and sense of purpose that meant making a change.
In our parlance “the conscious class” refers to those who have found their trigger. Although mentally out of the religion, family issues and other considerations keep them physically where they are.
After reading the book, I have hope that many who are still “safe” living in System 1 will experience their trigger event or events and will take the appropriate action for them.
