Moral attitudes are especially difficult to change because
the attached emotions may largely define who we are. Certain
beliefs are so important to us that they become part of our identity.
Take, for example, the story of Dr. Ignaz Semmelwies.
A recent bulletin board exhibit, entitled "The History of Hand Washing,"
displayed at Overlook Hospital, illustrates how difficult it can be for
contrary facts to change strongly-held beliefs.
Dr. Semmelwies was the Chief Resident in surgery at the
Vienna General Hospital in 1847. At the time, the theory of diseases was highly
influenced by ideas of an imbalance of the basic "four humours" in
the body, a theory known as dyscrasia for which the main treatment was blood
lettings.
At the Vienna General Hospital, there were two OBGYN
clinics. Clinic #1 was a teaching service for medical students.
Clinic #2 was exclusively for the instruction of midwives. At the time,
the staff were quite puzzled about a consistent difference in the mortality
rates of the two clinics.
A good friend of Dr. Semmelwies died after accidentally
being poked with a student's scalpel while performing a post mortem exam.
The friend's own autopsy showed a pathology similar to that of women in
Clinic#1 who were dying of puerperal fever (infection of a woman's placenta
following delivery or abortion, sometimes causing death by the infection
passing into the bloodstream). Dr. Semmelwies proposed that there could
be a connection between cadaver contamination and the puerperal fever. He
concluded that he and the medical students carried "cadaverous
particles" on their hands from the autopsy room to the patients in OBGYN
Clinic #1, that caused puerperal fever and the higher incidence of patient
deaths than in Clinic #2. He believed this explained why the student
midwives in Clinic #2 (who were not engaged in autopsies and had no contact
with the corpses) saw almost no mortality.
Dr. Semmelwies instituted a policy of using a solution of
calcium hypochlorite for washing hands between autopsy work and the examination
of patients in Clinic #1. Mortality rates dropped dramatically in Clinic
#1.
Regardless of these facts, many doctors in Vienna were
offended at the suggestion that they should wash their hands. They felt
that their social status as gentlemen was inconsistent with the idea that their
hands could be unclean. As a result, Dr. Semmelwies' ideas were rejected
by the medical community. Perfectly reasonable hand-washing proposals
were ridiculed and rejected by Dr. Semmelwies' contemporaries in the
1840's. The ideas of Dr. Semmelwies were in conflict with established
medical opinions, regardless of being consistent with scientific facts.
Only years after his death, did Dr. Semmelwies' hand-washing
requirement earn widespread acceptance, when Louis Pasteur developed the germ
theory of disease. Pasteur was able to develop the germ theory through
experiments demonstrating that organisms such as bacteria were responsible for
souring wine, beer and even milk. Today, the process he invented for removing
bacteria by boiling and then cooling a liquid (pasteurization) is not in
dispute, but it took decades for acceptance. Today, Dr, Semmelwies is
recognized in medical circles as a pioneer of antiseptic policy.
According to the Overlook Hospital exhibit, "Semmelwies
Reflex" is a term applied today to a certain type of human behavior
characterized by reflex-like rejection of new knowledge because it contradicts
entrenched norms, beliefs or paradigms.
When the subjects of climate change or evolution come up in
conversation today, do some of us tend to deny widely accepted scientific
findings because they challenge our identity ---- our sense of
self? Do we think there is solid evidence that human activity has made
the average temperature on earth warmer over the past few decades? Do we think
humans and other living things have evolved ---- they have not existed in their
present forms since the beginning of time? To believe either is these
propositions requires some rejection of Biblical and/or political
teaching. This in turn could alienate us from certain group values, like
like those of our church denomination or of our political party.
Several years ago, The New York Times published a story by
Maggie Koerth-Baker, in which she argued that factual and scientific evidence
is often ineffective in changing beliefs. She said there are times when
one's sense of identity may trump the facts. The emotions attached to
such preferences largely define who we are. Certain beliefs are so
important for a society or group that they become part of how one proves our
identity. We want to side with people who share our identity ---- even
when the facts disagree. Calling someone a "flip-flopper" is a
way of calling them morally suspect, as if those who change their minds are in
some way being unfaithful to their group.
Whether we are changing our own mind or someone else's, the
key is emotional, persuasive storytelling. Stories are more powerful than
data, says Ms. Koerth-Baker, because they allow individuals to identify emotionally
with ideas and with people they might otherwise see as "outsiders."
She goes on to report the speculation by researchers, for example, that
children who grow up seeing friendly gay people on TV will be more likely to
support gay marriage as adults, regardless of other political affiliations and
religious beliefs.
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These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult
Spiritual Development Team, seeking to encourage some spiritual
growth this fall.
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