Normalcy bias keeps JWs from leaving

by zimunzucz 14 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  zimunzucz

  I have been frustrated by the inability of most JWs to escape their bondage to the KH, despite repeated exposure to negative information about their religion and belief system. Perhaps it's due in part to something called normalcy bias- a definition I have found is:
  

  Normalcy Bias is part of human nature and, to some extent, we are all guilty of participating in it. Unfortunately, the Normalcy Bias inhibits our ability to prevent and to eventually cope with a disaster once it is underway. People with Normalcy Bias have difficulty reacting to something they have not experienced before. The Normalcy Bias also leads people to interpret warnings and to inaccurately re frame information in order to project an optimistic outcome which leads the person to infer a less serious situation. In short, it is kind of a pain-killing drug which numbs a person to an impending danger.

  Well isn't that what JWs do? The GB does no wrong, things inside the WT org are always viewed as better, doctrinal changes are incremental changes, not outright mistakes/false prophecies and negative WT opinions are attributed to really bad people, who are mostly on the outside. (aka, apostates)..-so outside information is usually discredited at first sight- (a thought stopping technique).
  

  2018 will make 30 years since my exit from the KH-- and information about the WT didn't fall into my lap. back then you had to actively hunt for it, unlike in the Internet age.
  

  I concluded some years ago, that the WT may not collapse due to efforts of ex-members on the outside.
  
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  done4good

  Normalcy bias, confirmation bias, etc. are all products of cognitive dissonance. Start there to better understand why JWs act the way they do, to dis-confirming evidence of their belief system.
  

  WT will sink its own ship due to inabilities to effectively adapt to social evolutionary pressures. Nothing we do will speed up the process directly. We are mostly here assist those who are beginning to see for themselves the WT's lies.
  

  d4g
  
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  Diogenesister

  Done4good I couldn't agree more, you are bang on. As the org always say, all you can do is give a great 'witness' to your loved ones by example and be there when needed.
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  TheListener

  When "faith" is involved it is easy to push all logic aside.
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  Giordano

  I would add that another process believing JW's engage in is 'rational ignorance' which means.....

  1. Ignorance about an issue is said to be "rational" when the cost of educating oneself about the issue sufficiently to make an informed decision can outweigh any potential benefit one could reasonably expect to gain from that decision, and so it would be irrational to waste time doing so.
     
     
     Or as Eric Hoffer said: “It is startling to realize how much unbelief is necessary to make belief possible.”
     
     
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  StrongHaiku

  Good post. I would also add the human bias for "loss aversion" as a contributing factor. Once you begin to be invested into something (even if it is a losing proposition) it is very hard to stop. Our brains are wired this way (and, apparently so are other primates). The more you become invested (e.g. time, resources) on something, the least likely you are to quit EVEN IF one realizes that it is a losing proposition. This bias is what keeps Las Vegas humming day and night. This is why people often screw up their investment and stock portfolio. It is also what may keep many people in the Organization from walking away.
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  flipper

  Very good post. I am forever and a day frustrated by my adult JW daughters who just can't see the good in people outside the cult. And the rest of my still in JW family is similar. They can't see the forest through the trees. It's frustrating but all we can do is patiently wait for them to see it in their own time. And be there to catch them once they decide to finally leap from the criminal organization called the WT Society
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  zimunzucz

  WT will sink its own ship due to inabilities to effectively adapt to social evolutionary pressure

  The LDS religion (Mormons) adapted and grew despite more overwhelming odds against them. I see no reason why the JWs won't adapt and survive. They finally embraced the Internet and I suspect more and more JWs are getting their leads from visits to the JW website. I also see that the WT is slowly adapting. The 5 day district assemblies of my era have gone the way of the Dodo bird- The WT leaders are gradually paring down to just a weekend of talks. They are marketing more to immigrant groups as they see more increases from them. Cold calling and random neighborhood witnesssing is going to become less important to JW growth in the future. All they need is to get lucky and have some teensy prediction appear to come true, to reinvigorate the sleepy mob in the KH.

  JWs, IMO need to somehow drop their no-blood transfusion dogma and the direct shunning of former members- that has to stop. No more breaking up families and killing their kids from lack of blood transfusions. If they do that, I will no longer care much about the JWs. They can fritter their life away studying WT mags for all I care.
  

  I must be an anomaly, as I read the Orwellian world of JWs off the shelf at the library, followed the bread crumb trail and exited all on my own 6 months later- no hand holding required.(1988)
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  Sofia Lose

  Oh poor thing, don't be frustrated, some can leave intact and some of us simply cannot stomach to pay the high price that leaving entails. So, while staying there, we accentuate the positive, concentrate on the relationships, totally ignore the bs rules/doctrines, and try to make the best of it.

  Hey, look at it like the average liberal does: If by staying in this or any other religion one does not hurt anybody, then stay.

  SL
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  done4good

  JWs, IMO need to somehow drop their no-blood transfusion dogma and the direct shunning of former members- that has to stop. No more breaking up families and killing their kids from lack of blood transfusions.

  Yep, and if they do that, they will effectively no longer be the authoritarian organization that they currently are. So far, nothing they have done indicates they will let go of these draconian practices.

  They are not evolving socially, just trying to survive by making changes to their outward appearance, (i.e. adaptation of internet, cartoons, music videos, "parties" in the KH, etc.). If they keep this up, and refuse to change anything of substance, they will go extinct in time. Even the Catholic Church is getting the message and relaxing its position on long held draconian concepts, since society will not tolerate otherwise. I don't see this happening in WT land at all.

  d4g