But we're talking about something importantly narrower than "changing their beliefs." We're talking about changing their beliefs along a specific kind of vector, which we're labeling "extremism." We absolutely don't expect them to change their beliefs to something less "extreme".
Though... hm. This gets tricky to talk about.
I think it's fair to define an "extremist belief" as a belief that significantly differs from the relevant community norms. As a community becomes more militaristic, pacifism becomes more extreme; as it becomes more secular, theism becomes more extreme, etc. A belief in democracy as the best form of government is extremist in some places and not in others.
How this differs from an "unpopular belief" I'm not entirely sure, but never mind for now.
So, we're saying groups all of whose members hold far-from-norm beliefs along a common vector tend to exchange them for further-from-norm beliefs along that vector, to a degree proportional to how far they were from the norm to begin with. Yes?
So... hm. When I put it that way, it's surprising -- I tend to expect regression towards the mean. Not in any mystical or teleological way, just as a consequence of unconstrained random walks.
Though, of course, the walk isn't unconstrained. A subgroup that self-selects based on membership in one pole of an oppositional pair won't have the same norm as the group as a whole... duh.
So, OK. Right there with you.
Perhaps incidentally, I'm not really sure what an "extremist tendency" (as distinguished from actually holding an "extremist belief"), other than the thing that we posit that one has just before becoming part of an extremist group.
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winterfish
no subject
Date: 2008-05-16 08:38 pm (UTC)But we're talking about something importantly narrower than "changing their beliefs." We're talking about changing their beliefs along a specific kind of vector, which we're labeling "extremism." We absolutely don't expect them to change their beliefs to something less "extreme".
Though... hm. This gets tricky to talk about.
I think it's fair to define an "extremist belief" as a belief that significantly differs from the relevant community norms. As a community becomes more militaristic, pacifism becomes more extreme; as it becomes more secular, theism becomes more extreme, etc. A belief in democracy as the best form of government is extremist in some places and not in others.
How this differs from an "unpopular belief" I'm not entirely sure, but never mind for now.
So, we're saying groups all of whose members hold far-from-norm beliefs along a common vector tend to exchange them for further-from-norm beliefs along that vector, to a degree proportional to how far they were from the norm to begin with. Yes?
So... hm. When I put it that way, it's surprising -- I tend to expect regression towards the mean. Not in any mystical or teleological way, just as a consequence of unconstrained random walks.
Though, of course, the walk isn't unconstrained. A subgroup that self-selects based on membership in one pole of an oppositional pair won't have the same norm as the group as a whole... duh.
So, OK. Right there with you.
Perhaps incidentally, I'm not really sure what an "extremist tendency" (as distinguished from actually holding an "extremist belief"), other than the thing that we posit that one has just before becoming part of an extremist group.