The more I delve into history and human nature the more I am aware of what an "Us vs. Them" world we live in.
Politics, religion, nationality, ethnicity, race, sports, social standing -- you name it -- we take sides and it is more often than not in the form of an unpleasant rivalry that creates bitter enemies. It was ever thus...and that is not a good thing. Personality clashes, differences of opinion, out-and-out hatred...From where I sit, I am growing weary of it all.
Good reasoning doesn’t come naturally. In fact, humans are instinctively terrible reasoners. Most of the time, the way our brains work isn’t rational at all. Even with exceptional training in analytical thinking, we still have to overcome instincts to think simplistically and nonanalytically.
Just stop and think for a moment about assumptions that can lead to errors of reasoning.
Stereotype: A simplified image of a type or category of people, incorporating assumptions about those people.
Prejudice: A preconceived belief (usually negative) about all people belonging to one type or category.
Partisanship: The tendency to favor those with whom you agree.
Provincialism: The tendency to believe that the issues you feel most strongly about are the most important.
Herd instinct: The tendency to adhere to cultural norms of belief and behavior.
Availability bias: The tendency to assume that memorable or hard-to-ignore events are more common than unmemorable ones.
Good reasoning requires that we withhold judgment until we have all the facts, collect evidence from neutral sources, and make sure that we understand all sides of an issue. Unfortunately, the human brain seems to have a compulsion to simplify. Unless we are vigilant, certain instinctual thought patterns derail our attempts at solid analytical reasoning.
One type of simplification involves putting people into groups, since it’s easier to deal with a few groups than with many individuals. We not only pigeonhole other people — we also put ourselves into groups and then identify strongly with our self-imposed categories. This has some benefits, especially in marketing and politics — it can be much easier to appeal to someone’s group identity than to appeal to the individual. But the assumptions that we make about people based on their categories can impair reasoning.
Depending on our taxonomy, we may be more or less likely to heed people, more or less likely to find their concerns important, more or less likely to contradict them, and more or less likely to think well of them. We may also seek out evidence that supports our assumptions, instead of evidence that is solid and unbiased. I am convinced that many of us fall short in this area and are too stubbornly biased to do anything about it.
Certainly, it is natural to have positive beliefs about a group to which you belong, and to make assumptions (positive or negative) about other groups. Admittedly, sometimes these assumptions are useful. We think of stereotypes as negative, and many are ill-founded or mean, but some assumptions can help us target an audience that enables us to get our message across. For instance, it is a stereotype that high school students are interested in video games. It’s not true of every student, but if you are trying to reach a group of high-school-age kids, you could do worse than to base your approach on that idea.
However, there are several ways in which these assumptions can get in the way of good reasoning.
Prejudice. Even if a stereotype is based in reality — and many are not — it will not be true of every member of a group. Assuming that you know what someone is like because of the groups they belong to is prejudice, and it can keep you from rationally evaluating their motives and choices.
Partisanship. We tend to make positive assumptions about groups to which we belong. Among other assumptions, we believe that people who think like us are more rational and more informed than people with whom we disagree. This hinders reasoning because we accept arguments based on who makes them, not on their content or support.
Provincialism. We tend to think that issues affecting our identity groups are more important or more urgent than issues affecting other groups. This prevents us from accurately evaluating these issues.
Herd instinct. We make assumptions about what’s acceptable and popular in the groups to which we belong, and it’s often hard to go against these norms. When an opinion is unpopular, the herd instinct can make us inclined to ignore evidence so we can maintain beliefs that are in line with the mainstream beliefs.
But today many of these social categories and stereotypes are propagated by society, tradition, and culture. They are not relevant anymore, but we continue to believe them and in many ways they become self-fulfilling beliefs.
We first need to become more aware of our tendency to put people into groups and create an “Us vs. Them” mentality.
As I say, we see it all the time in politics, war, sports and other aspects of our culture, but at the end of the day a lot of this thinking creates unnecessary tension and antagonism between everyone.
Group thinking causes us to act irrationally and uncooperative, because we are more concerned about conforming with our group instead of thinking intelligently for ourselves, or recognizing other people’s interests and values outside of our own social circle.
Instead of seeing people in groups, a better perspective is to see everyone as an individual worthy of respect, equality, and kindness, regardless of what groups they may be categorized in.
We shouldn’t necessarily ignore these common differences between us, but we certainly shouldn’t use them to judge people as “superior” or “inferior” – or see them as a battle between “Us vs. Them.” It is driving a dangerous wedge between people and at the expense of everyone.
If you choose to associate with a group identity, it doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Just be super mindful of it and be cautious if that identity starts to have a negative influence on how you view other people who you don’t identify with.
I personally try to identify with everyone in some way. I believe that at the core of human beings we want to have faith, all the while trying to find happiness and enjoy life -- and in that sense we are all connected as one, so there is no need to divide.
I know...it is all so much easier said than done...But let's try, for the betterment of society going forward!
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