h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I just made a posting and it was a lot of work, so I copy it here in my journal as well. It's about a pop star who suddenly had become a devoted member of a religion (in the seventies).


Quote;
"It is from all times, always, difficult to accept a "black spot" at a person we admire, so to speak. I'm talking now about the theory.


Social psychology says this, about such a problem with a "triangle".


Most of the times we act like this.


1. My relation to Islam = negative, "-"

2. My relation to Cat Stevens = positive, "+"

3. Cat Stevens'relation to Islam = positive, "+"

This combination of two times a "+" and just one time "-" is hard to digest. We start to feel a little nervous, so to speak.


So we humans try to create a triangle of just one "+" by saying;

"Well,Cat Stevens is not really a Muslim. He's a European man who's just interested for a while in Islam. He is interested in world peace and not so much in religion.

So in this case the "+" between Cat Stevens and Islam becomes "-" and a triangle with twice "-" and just one "+" is a situation that's easy to cope with for all of us.


The triangle becomes like this;

Me - Islam = negative

Me - Cat Stevens = positive

Cat Stevens - Islam = negative


Another option is, that one starts to take distance from him; "Well, he's from the sixties. I never really liked him. I'm not surprised"

Again a triangle of twice "-" and one "+"

Me - Islam = negative

Me - Cat Stevens = negative

Cat Stevens - Islam = positive



The last option that can be digested easier than a situation of
"-" and "+" and "+" is to start saying;

"Well, the culture of Islam is not always that primitive. Kabul was during the Middle Ages in Europe a very modern city.
Islam is mainly positive".
This attitude creates a triangle with "+" and "+" and "+"



One can shift within a triangle the "+" and "-" ; that will not create difficulties in our state of mind,according to theory.

It's the number of "+" and "-" that makes us feel ambivalent and seduces us to re-arrange it into a comfortable triangle of two "-"
and one "+".


So, only one "-" and two "+" in any triangle will always irritate us.

In every situation there are many "triangles".

This is just a posting of mine, spontaneously. No more than that".

For you, or anyone else who wants to look into this more, the triangle you describe is known as Heider's balance theory.

Thanks !