Discover The Surprising Benjamin Franklin Effect
The famous North American scientist Benjamin Franklin once said that: “A parent is a treasure, a brother is a comfort: a friend is both at the same time”. If we respect this sentence, it seems normal to go the extra mile to please your friends. But why make this effort in front of people we don’t really like? And why is this curious phenomenon called Benjamin Franklin?
The explanation comes from a very curious story that we are forced to tell you here. It is a daily action, and often unconscious, that our brain takes to free us from this discomfort caused by the dissonance or the lack of coherence between what we think and what we do. Let’s go!
What is the origin of the Benjamin Franklin effect?
The Benjamin Franklin effect comes from something strange. We know that Benjamin Franklin, inventor of
This aversion did not go unnoticed for Franklin and even worried him particularly. But, he solved it in a very curious way. He took it into his head to “win” his critical opponent.
For that, Franklin had no other idea than to ask him a favor. Since he knew that this was a very culturally-minded person, he decided to ask her for an exceptionally rare copy from his private library, when he was not particularly interested in this particular work.
The adversary, faced with such a request, felt honored and flattered, and soon began to correspond with Franklin. This is how Franklin won over his detractor, giving rise to a closeness first and then to a friendship that lasted their entire lives.
“Take the time to choose a friend, but be even slower to change him”.
-Benjamin Franklin-
What is behind the Benjamin Franklin effect?
If this singular story comes from Benjamin Franklin, it hides deep psychological foundations. So, behind this human need to please, lies a cognitive dissonance … or rather the self-interested urge to avoid this unpleasant dissonance.
That is to say that what Benjamin Franklin obtains with his request is to create a contradiction in his opponent: on the one hand, he is a hard political opponent, and on the other he gives him back a service. In itself, the situation is not contradictory, but it is likely that Franklin’s opponent perceives a certain contradiction in it: a feeling of political antipathy in the face of a sympathetic way of acting.
The perception of a contradiction of this type often generates discomfort, so that the person tends to readjust their way of thinking. This is precisely what Franklin’s adversary did, surely also because the value represented by his behavior (that of lending him a book) had more social and personal desirability than that of aversion based solely on reasons. policies.
So, in a way, Franklin’s adversary, to justify his generosity, had to change his view of him. On the other hand, this new perspective undoubtedly facilitated the start of a friendship that gradually grew stronger.
Does the brain try to justify the unjustifiable?
So our brain tries to justify our actions and it does so by trying not to damage the image we have of ourselves. Hence the cognitive dissonance that arises and the steps we take to make it disappear. For example, faced with an armed conflict – which we know to be unjustifiable, but in which we participate at the same time (even with the complicity of silence) – our mind searches for reasons which justify our posture and these can be linked to the defense of freedom, patriotism or even religion.
On the other hand, the reasons or the news which can justify our posture will be, therefore, more encouraged. They will attract our attention more and we will keep them in our memory more easily. As you can see, cognitive dissonance is part of our life. On a professional and personal level, we are often confronted with the justification of acts with which we do not agree.
In fact, it’s very likely that you’ve worked with people you don’t like or found yourself in a situation where you have to help people you don’t like. Whatever the situation, your mind will set in motion mechanisms that will explain and justify these facts. So, after doing someone a favor, you will surely have a better opinion of that person.
“Lend money to your enemy and you will earn it, lend money to your friend and you will lose him.”
-Benjamin Franklin-
The way our mind works, which always tries to safeguard the image we have of ourselves and the consistency between our thoughts and actions by changing our opinions, is curious. Moreover, this phenomenon does not stop there, because once the rationale or the new opinion arises, we are more sensitive to all types of information that corroborates it and more skeptical of all the information that is there. oppose.
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