Position Holding

Goals

1. Describe position holding (PH).
2. Avoid PH.
3. Respond to PH in the best ways.
4. Get high payoffs from this skill

What

Position Holding (PH) = holding a belief (claim) with certainty that is not connected to a revision mechanism. Arguments are often present, but they function as defenses rather than as inputs for updating the belief.

A non-revisable belief is a claim held with certainty that is not responsive to evidence or inquiry.

PH is characterized by

1. Strong affect.
2. Defensiveness when questioned.
3. Not responsive to questions, evidence, or counterarguments.
4. Arguments are produced to defend the belief and are often dismissed, replaced, or escalated rather than revised.

Root Cause of PH

PH occurs when a person perceives that their identity is being attacked or threatened, meaning how they see themselves. Identity can be understood as layered, and PH can attach to any of these layers. The five layers of identity are:

1. Core: Moral self-image, deepest values, and fundamental interests.
2. Competence and Agency: What I am good at, what I can do, and how much control or autonomy I have.
3. Status or Rank: Where I fit relative to others and how important or respected I am.
4. Group or Belonging: The groups, communities, or affiliations I care about and identify with.
5. Story or Narrative: The stories I tell about myself, my role, and what gives my life meaning.

Examples of Position Holding

1. A person has a belief that they can build a perpetual motion machine and no matter what anyone says or proves, they continue to hold on to their position.

2. A person follows a leader or system that repeatedly causes them harm (ie., a cult). Friends point out concrete costs and patterns, but the person’s belief never updates.

3. Couple A and B have an issue they are discussing. However, B will not change their position no matter what; they are locked in. The only way to move forward is for A to give in.

4. A team is discussing an issue. One team member has a position that they will not change, regardless of new information, alternative proposals, or group concerns. The stance is fixed; only the justifications change.

5. A political party adopts a position and refuses to change it regardless of the facts and evidence. Members of the party who challenge this position are attacked and ostracized. In groups, PH can be sustained even when individuals privately doubt, because the cost of revision is external and social.

Why Skill with PH matters

1. PHing for the individual is undesirable (not in their best interest). While, the rewards can span from neutral to highly undesirable, they are typically undesirable to a degree.

2. Skill with PH-Avoidance equips you to avoid holding onto positions and thereby avoid the harm this will cause you.

3. Skill with PH-Defense equips you to recognize PHing and deal with it in the best ways for the context. Notabily, to deal with PHing in ways that do not harm others (Intellectual Akido).

PH-Avoidance (How To)

Practice humility.

Humility is a stance: caring far more about making the best choices than about being right.

Humility is operationalized by skilled practice of critical thinking (CT).

When a person is humble, the observable evidence is the presence of the following criteria together.

1. Open to others; active listening.
2. Carefulness in stating positions.
3. Backs up claims with sound reasoning; transparent.
4. Asking others what they think.
5. Willingness (even desire) to change their position in the face of a better argument.
6. Calmness, even in the face of disputes.
7. Profound levels of respect for others.

PH-Defense (How To)

align on moral and incentive values, then process and prioritize tradeoffs under real constraints in an identity-safe way.

Recognize → Best? → Core Identity → Lever → Reflect and Improve

1. Recognize
   1. Identify when PH is happening.
2. Best? Figure out what is best.
   1. Often walking away is best.
3. Core Identity
   1. Figure out what core values the PHer might have.
   2. Identify the one most likely to work.
4. Lever

Tips and Pitfalls

Type of Changes and Timescales

• Worldview changes → slow, deep, optional
• Stance/position changes → fast, situational, actionable

Success Criteria

You get the payoffs (gold) from this lesson when you can do the following things.

1. Answer inquiry questions (who? what? when? why? etc) about position holding (PH) and its subconcepts such as identity.
2. Apply PH-Avoidance: Recognize and lower position holding in yourself.
3. Apply PH-Defense: Respond in the best ways to PHing (Position Holding) by others.
4. Break down PH-Avoidance and PH-Defense into their component parts and use this to troubleshoot and get better results.
5. Evaluate PH strategies and skills.
6. Design environments (situations and cultures) in which PHing is largely absent.

Tasks With Feedback