Argue A Lot at the Christmas Table? Be Glad

Who doesn't dread the Christmas table, with family from far and near, around it?  Now a new study says there may be something good about that kind of stress. 

Arguing with your family may just lead to helping them be open to different ways of thinking, according to newswise.com.

“Families who cultivate a culture in which disagreements are voiced may help raise individuals who are less prone to rely on their personal biases when they make decisions,” says Virginia Tech’s Anne-Sophie Chaxel, an assistant professor at the Pamplin College of Business.

Arguments often stem from biases which reinforce racial, political and religious beliefs. Chaxel recently authored a study in Journal of Consumer Psychology which found a way to activate a mindset that leads people to become open to questioning existing beliefs, thus reducing their own bias.

These findings demonstrate potential for “holiday squabbles to have a functional utility in family circles because they cultivate a mindset that allows individuals to process new information without being tainted by prior preconceptions, in one word, let people be more open-minded,” adds Chaxel.

Biases are a common phenomena because of a need for “cognitive consistency" or processing information in a way that confirms existing beliefs. Through this study Chaxel was able to disrupt the cognitive consistency thinking process by asking participants to write about why they agreed or disagreed with preset statements.

The research showed people who had written refuting statements were less likely to be influenced by their existing bias and the act of exposing oneself to beliefs that are different than their own helps counteract biased tendencies, the web site reports.

“We may avoid people who do not share our political views, merely because we think we are right; and we do not want others to try to convince us otherwise. So what would be the point to be confronted to an alternative viewpoint?" asks Chaxel. "Actually, mere exposure to disagreement is useful, not because it may change our political attitudes, this is only one part of the story, but because it changes the way we process information – it makes us more objective.”