In the last blog, I brought how first impressions are difficult to displace, and some simple tips to help us improve the first impressions others have about us.
This blog is related. I want to discuss how prevalent biased thinking is for us individually, and for society in general. Whether this bias forms as a first impression, or from our family and cultural background over many years, it can be pretty destructive to our success in life. It is also highly disruptive to our social fabric as well.
The following conclusions are drawn from numerous research studies conducted by Harvard University, Stanford University, Yale University, European researchers Dan Sperber and Hugo Mercier, and Steve Sloman of Brown University and Philip Fernback, of the University of Colorado. This research began in the 1970’s and continues today.
Findings confirm that formed impressions are remarkably perseverant. Think about growing up in a devoutly Catholic family, or in a working-class family in Detroit Michigan, or in a family where all the males for three generations were members in the KKK. Isn’t it easy to conclude that people from these backgrounds will likely hold some pretty rigids beliefs and perceptions.
What research shows is that strongly held beliefs and impressions are unlikely to change very much at all, even in the face of irrefutable facts. Confirmation bias (I accept the truth that supports my beliefs, and reject the truth when it doesn’t) is a profound source of contention in our lives today.
People are better at spotting the flaws in other people’s arguments, and almost totally incapable of seeing the flaws in their own. That said, research proves that almost everyone is incredibly gullible and susceptible to flawed reasoning, especially if it matches their own beliefs.
We hear pundits from the conservative right and liberal left claim that their audience is smart enough to determine what is opinion and what is fact. Nothing could be further from the truth, and that makes us easy pickin’s for propagandists.
If someone feels strongly about a complex issue, the less they person really know about that issue, the more dogmatic they tend to be about their position.
Strong feelings do not form from deep understanding. They form from cultural or situational impressions that have shaped our understanding irrespective of our ever having gained accurate knowledge regarding a topic. Add to that, we generally believe we know a great more about many things than we do. This is especially true if we already have formed an opinion about it.
Research strongly suggests that what we call “reason” evolved to help people living in groups to maintain social standing and control by arguing their point of view effectively (irrespective of truth or facts) and to keep them from getting screwed by other members of the group. Reasoning clearly and accurately served nobody. Winning arguments did.
Most of the research done over the last four decades suggests there has been little progress in eliminating our gullibility. The explosion of social media, the internet, and the rise of “talk radio” free of content restrictions has allowed millions of people to speak and listen only to the message they believe. This reinforces their anger, disrespect, jealousy, and resentment of others who possess the fatal flaw of holding an opposing opinion. We fought our civil war, brother against brother, over exactly this phenomenon over one hundred and fifty years ago. This seems silly to many of us today, but it is more frequently turning deadly.
There is a bright hope to this. Much research has been conducted to show that the more willing people are to discuss difficult and complex issues, and work through them together with patience, curiosity and respect, the more their opinions moderate.
For example, in a well-run laboratory, bias must play no part, for only results matter. Results must be able to be replicated exactly in other labs for knowledge to blossom. There are squabbles along the way, but in the end, dispassionate methodology prevails.
What we coach is self-awareness, and well-developed self-awareness has always the solution, the way forward. Gaining greater self-awareness is easier than we might think, and the sooner we all realize that every one of us benefits from greater self-awareness, the happier we will all be.
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