One of the primary reasons talking politics with someone who has differing views is so challenging is we assume talking politics should be as easy as making sure they have all the facts we have. So we share our facts. But when our facts don’t change their mind, we’re likely to walk away complaining that “they just won’t listen!” or “they’re duped by the fake news they watch.”

There are other possibilities, though. Here are four factors that might explain why our facts are so often not enough to change another person’s mind.

Factor 1: The survival instinct that kept humans alive back in caveman days is still alive and kicking in humans today. Information — everything we see, hear, experience — is first assessed by the limbic system to see if it presents a threat. If so, instinct kicks in to get us to act first and worry about whether the threat was real later. Fight or flight, as this is sometimes called, applies to any threat, whether it be to our physical selves, our emotional selves, or our ideas. (If you didn’t already see the great cartoon from theoatmeal.com that we posted on a previous blog, check it out. It really does an excellent job of explaining how this plays out in our lives.)

Factor 2: While we all have the same basic brain structure (limbic, cortex, neocortex) no two brains are configured the same. Nature has provided lots of design options, some predefined by our genetic code, some switched on or off based on life experiences. As a result, we are all working with slightly different operating systems (sort of like my brain as a PC and your brain as a MAC).