You all know that one of my favorite topics to read, learn,
teach, and blog about are inconsistencies in thinking.
For example when our conscious mind sees what our
unconscious mind just did and comes up with a perfectly rational-sounding
justification for it that has absolutely nothing to do with why our unconscious
mind actually did it.
Or when we do something that afterwards we realize is
inconsistent with how we prefer to define ourselves, and so we come up with a
totally illogical (to others) sounding rationalization for how it fits.
Or when we semi-consciously engage in self-deception so that
we can do something that we know we really shouldn’t.
So I shouldn’t have been surprised when I read this article
and the research study behind it. They asked people of various political
profiles how likely they are to engage in behaviors that we typically associate
with one political view. In this case,
they looked at climate change and energy efficiency.
Libertarians and Democrats reported that they were more
likely to engage in energy efficient behaviors like purchasing efficient
appliances, light bulbs, insulation, solar panels, and that kind of thing. But Republicans turned out to have already
done more of them (with the exception of the light bulbs). Libertarians turned out to be the most
inconsistent – most often reporting that they are likely to do these things but
least likely to actually have done any of them.
