Win Bigly

01We make decisions based on feelings first, then find reasons to back them up

Scott Adams, the guy who penned "Win Bigly," isn't just a famous cartoonist. He's also a trained hypnotist and a sharp-eyed watcher of human behavior. In his book, he gives us a fresh take on how we make choices, especially when it comes to politics. He says we're more likely to make decisions based on our feelings, and then we use something called cognitive dissonance to justify those choices. So, what's cognitive dissonance? It's a fancy term for the mental stress we feel when our actions don't match our beliefs. We don't like feeling this way, so we try to fix it by changing our beliefs or making excuses for our actions. Adams uses Donald Trump's presidential campaign as an example. Despite Trump's controversial words and deeds, he still managed to get a lot of followers. Adams thinks this is because Trump knew how to stir up people's emotions, causing cognitive dissonance and something called confirmation bias. Confirmation bias is when we interpret new information in a way that supports our existing beliefs. According to Adams, Trump made emotional appeals that hit home with a lot of people. These appeals often went against established facts or norms, causing cognitive dissonance. But instead of rejecting Trump's claims, many people resolved this discomfort by making excuses for their support for him. They found ways to justify their emotional decision to back Trump, often by ignoring or downplaying facts that contradicted their decision. Adams says this isn't just a political thing. In business, for example, a company might release a product that doesn't live up to all its promises. But if the company has made a strong emotional connection with its customers, they might ignore these flaws and make excuses for their decision to buy the product. Adams also gives some practical tips on how to use these insights to persuade people. For example, he suggests making a claim that's mostly true but includes a big exaggeration. This will make people focus on the exaggeration and convince themselves that the underlying issue is a big deal. In a nutshell, Adams' book is a deep dive into the power of emotion in decision-making and the role of cognitive dissonance in justifying these decisions. It challenges the idea that we're mostly rational creatures and gives some great insights into the art of persuasion.