Tribal Epistemology
Pragya Agarwal, the author of Sway, is a freelance writer, behavioral and data scientist, and the founder of a research think-tank, The 50 Percent Project. She focuses on women’s rights around the world, and she writes widely on the subjects of bias and prejudice, motherhood, gender, racial inequality, and mental health. This book, Sway, categorized under behavioral and mental psychology, is divided into four sections to discover the science behind unintentional biases embedded in everyone. She uses real stories, scientific theories, and research data to explore and present “the brain and behavior, and finding synergies between society and psychology to try and understand why we act the way we do, how we think, learn, and connect, and process information.”[1]
Pragya’s valuable research discussions were very helpful in gaining a greater understanding of the science and human behavior in unintentional biases that influence our interactions. In chapter five, she mentions a phenomenon called “homophily – the tendency of individuals to associate and bond with similar others, as in the proverb ‘birds of a feather flock together.”[2] And she connected this unconscious tendency of human behavior to a newly emerging phenomenon called identity politics – which has “given rise to the recent phenomenon of fake news. Anything that doesn’t conform to your tribe’s views is shunned and labeled as fake news.”[3] I also noticed the spread of this new emergence of cognitive bias that Jonathan Freeland called Tribal Epistemology. Depending on which region you are from, the ethnic background you have, and surrounding close friends from social media influence our decision-making greatly. Many will dangerously mix fake news and inherent cognitive bias to make irrational decisions over facts, truth, and evidence. In recent days, in order to belong to a certain tribe of your skin color, geographic location, and gender, every individual is sort of pushed into taking a certain side, share its political view, and embrace the feelings of the tribe.
Last week, I reflected on the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10 while the Russia-Ukraine conflict is covered all over the media. The US media created a catchy phrase to call this conflict ‘War between two men.’ The book reminded me that the unintentional bias in a person will be driven to take a side, root for a man they like, and be an entertained spectator to see how this story ends up because it is just a ‘War between two men.’ But is it really just a ‘War between two men’? It shouldn’t be for Christians.
Pragya urges the readers to understand and filter out the crucial bubbles from the social media channels and echo chambers because “our implicit biases shape the way information is now being shared, what information we trust, and how the way we create content and spread it reinforces the systemic biases that are entrenched in our society.”[4] The true message in Luke 10 is not just to be a good and merciful Samaritan and don’t be like the priest and the Levite who looked away because of their intentional bias. Jesus tells the parable of a good Samaritan to teach us to look into the depth of where our unconscious biases are formed – the brain and the heart. The understanding of our God of mercy means to look at our every neighbor both locally and globally beyond their color, ethnicity, gender, social status, power and authority, and political views. It is to practice mitigating and countering our unconscious biases with an intent to be the merciful hand in places of injustice for the kingdom of God. I have found one practical way to mitigate and counter negative unconscious biases within me. It is to walk the path of spiritual formation – “our continuing response to the reality of God’s grace shaping us into the likeness of Jesus Christ, through the work of the Holy Spirit, in the community of faith, for the sake of the world”[5] And of course, never to walk alone, but to walk with friends that God brings along the path of formation.
[1] Pragya Agarwal, Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias (Bloomsbury Sigma, 2021), 16.
[2] Agarwal, Sway, 152.
[3] Agarwal, Sway, 157.
[4] Agarwal, Sway, 407.
[5] Jeffrey Greenman and George Kalantzis, Life in the Spirit: Spiritual Formation in Theological Perspective (Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Academic, 2010), 24.
About the Author
Jonathan Lee
President of Streamside Ministry Lead Pastor of EM @ San Jose Korean Presbyterian Church in Sunnyvale, CA8 responses to “Tribal Epistemology”
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Jonathan, thank you for this post. You argue for spiritual formation as a way forward over bias, and I agree. In past posts, you have written about working with youth in your church. How are you applying spiritual formation in the lives of younger generations and what impacts are you seeing? At the end of your post, you write about the need to walk with others. How do you think community and/or accountability helps break our biases?
Ty for the question Roy,
One of the ways My wife and I are planting spiritual formation is to be intentional in reality and importance of spiritual life. In our Sunday gatherings and retreats, we incorporate workshop sessions that involves them to practice listening to the Holy Spirit and opportunities for them to think about building healthy and vibrant community together. We emphasize going beyond cognitive knowledge of knowing God to pursue experiential knowledge of God. Also, there is an emphasis in our Korean American youth to beware of the future world they will be engaging in which will be a global community. They need to experience dynamics and values that are in other cultures so that they can break out of their Korean american bias.
Thank you for this post Jonathan, particularly your thoughts on the parable of the Good Samaritan.
You write, “The understanding of our God of mercy means to look at our every neighbor both locally and globally beyond their color, ethnicity, gender, social status, power and authority, and political views.” I’m curious, how does this parable invite reflection on issues of race, ethnicity, and gender? Where do you find a temptation to “cross to the other side of the street”?
Hi Michael,
One of the new ways I am practicing these days is to pause and engage in small conversations with those that I encounter daily. Especially when there is an opportunity to be merciful and serve, I try to engage in that moment of opportunity. It is very eye opening to see how that change within my heart brings about new conversations and opportunities to get to know my neighbors.
Jonathan: I like the connection to the parable you used with this weeks reading. You write “Jesus tells the parable of a good Samaritan to teach us to look into the depth of where our unconscious biases are formed – the brain and the heart.” Are there any practical ways you see a Christ follower engaging their brains and hearts to combat biases?
Hi Kayli,
I tell my brain the more I know will serve better in understanding my neighbors and I tell my heart to embrace beyond my first layer of emotions that comes from roots of my biases. I think growing is the key context in the connection of the mind and the heart. I remind myself growth is a lifelong process because my flesh wants to remain in the status quo. Lot of times what I think and believe comes out as the emotions of the heart that brings out my actions. It really helps to take a step back and think about and disintegrate my thoughts and emotions of certain incidents.
I love the selection of the Good Samaritan. It’s such a layered story, especially about biases.
Why would the Samaritan, in his right mind, help any Jew, let alone one that a priest and Levite had passed up. And yet, it is out of this unlikeliest of persons, a victim of the Jew’s ongoing discrimination against his people, that the love of God is shown.
Jonathon, I appreciate your insight into the lesson of the “good Samaritan to teach us to look into the depth of where our unconscious biases are formed – the brain and the heart.” Your references of our polarization caused by the creation of various forms of group identity and media or selective truth, got me thinking. How might we help others to break free from living in an echo chamber? And how might we help those we lead to be discerning in their acquisition of truth?