Aversion Towards Solutions: A Very Common Behavior

“Climate change does not exist. Some people have invented it to promote their own interests ”. “People are poor because they do not bother to work.” “I have no problems with my health, so I can eat what I want and not have to exercise”. These are examples of what experts call “aversion to solutions”.

You have probably met someone who has extreme arguments in the style of the examples we have mentioned above. Listening to them can be disturbing and frustrating. How is it possible for someone to deny such clear evidence? For example, some people still deny that smoking is dangerous.

Psychologists have always been interested in why some people refuse to believe in clear and convincing scientific evidence. In addition, in the social context, it seems as if we more often see that aversion to solutions exacerbates political polarization.

In 2014, psychologists Troy Campbell and Aaron Kay of the University of Oregon studied and named this phenomenon. Let’s take a closer look at it.

What is aversion to solutions really?

A highly relevant example of aversion to solutions is people who deny the existence of climate change. It does not matter that the water level rises in the oceans, or that weather phenomena become more and more extreme. Drought formation also does not seem to be able to convince them.

Part of the reason people deny climate change is because they do not like the solutions that activists are proposing to put an end to them. 

Therefore, when someone does not like this solution, they will completely deny the problem. But often it does not end there. In addition to denying the problem, one can become offensive and angry at the people defending the evidence.

We can see other clear examples of this phenomenon in people who do not want to change lifestyle or stop smoking after a blood clot. Typical arguments include: “We must all die of something!” or “My father smoked all his life and turned 95 years old!”

Aversion to solutions is common in people who do not want to change habits and see solutions as threats to their way of life.

When your ideology does not let you accept solutions

Troy Campbell and Aaron Kay, the psychologists we mentioned above, coined the term “aversion to solutions” about six years ago. Their theory argues that two basic types of people exhibit this behavior:

• The people who will not accept solutions because they do not fit into their personal ideology.
• The people who will not accept them because they go against their needs, wants or interests.

The first type is the most common and usually gets the most attention in politics. In the United States, for example, the Republican Party is traditionally opposed to talking about climate change or gun laws.

If they did, they would go against their own interests, so therefore it is simply easier to deny the problem. On the other hand, the Democratic Party always claims that they are the only social and political group that speaks for these changes.

Aversion to solutions to avoid accepting a problem

Daniel, 15, was diagnosed with diabetes. However, he will not accept the diagnosis. The thought of having to take insulin or eat less sugar stresses him out.

Natalie, 68, has just been diagnosed with an eye disease. Therefore, she can not get her driver’s license renewed. She refuses to accept it and insists that her eye disease in no way affects her ability to drive. She will continue to drive.

It is easy to come up with examples of what people do when they do not like the possible solutions to a problem. We do not like them because they involve a lifestyle change. When faced with these solutions, it is all too common to react with anxiety, anger and frustration.

Aversion to solutions is far more common than you might think. However, it can stand in the way of everyone’s best interests. It complicates our ability to grow as a society because we cannot work together towards a solution.