Biases exposed
I hate that we have implicit biases and I find it so uncomfortable when they are exposed (although I’m also grateful).
Growing up in a conservative state and family, I had biases towards LGBTQ+ population. In recent years some of these were exposed, and thankfully changed.
Someone very dear in my life identified as transgender for a season. During this time, they were in a relationship with someone of the same biological sex. When this first transpired, I was surprised and found it difficult to process. I had plenty of biases that helped me build a false narrative around the partner. Although I wouldn’t have verbally said this, I had an underlying assumption on the partner’s moral character and integrity, and felt certain that they were a poor influence. And then I met her.
I still get teary eyed when I think about her. My assumptions were entirely wrong. She was kind, gentle, friendly, and welcoming. I repented from the misplaced blame and began to recognize her admirable attributes. Having our biases proven faulty can be disorienting and confusing, leading to questions such as: How could I be so wrong? Why did I even have those biases? What else am I wrong about?
Due to this experience and countless others like it, I enjoyed reading Why We’re Wrong About Nearly Everything by Bobby Duffy. [1] Duffy is Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Policy Institute at King’s College London. He has worked across many British public policy areas including an assignment to the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit. [2]
Duffy runs surveys on social issues such as immigration levels, murder rates, obesity levels, teenage pregnancy, and then compares them to actuals to understand biases. The reasons we get so many of these things wrong are based on how we think and what we are told. These two systems lead us astray. [3] We were designed by God in how we think – to be alert to threats (and negative information) which promotes our survival, however, when we are bombarded with negative information in what we are told, it becomes even more difficult to estimate reality.
Duffy gives an example of a common misunderstanding in his home country, where the people believe that the country is hopelessly divided on political and cultural debates, more than ever before:
But in actual fact, the UK has some of the highest levels of neighbourhood trust internationally…A large body of evidence shows that social cohesion is linked to economic growth, boosting the attractiveness of places for people, business and finance, and that in countries where people are more likely to trust others, there is less violence and more political stability and accountability. [4]
Similarly, across the 30 countries that Duffy measured, nearly every country overestimates teenage birth at nearly 20% of teen women giving birth, while the reality is only around 2%. [5]
Why are we so poor at estimating such things? Duffy argues that we tend to be oversensitive to things that worry us. In America, we implicitly feel that teenage birth rates are a symptom of the state of our society.
In many western countries, teenage pregnancies have actually been cut in half in the last twenty years. We struggle to notice gradual improvement, while we are quick to notice abrupt negative changes – an example of how we think.
We are also impacted by what we are told. Built into the business model of social media platforms is a confirmation bias. [6] Social media users are shown content that is most relevant and agreeable to the user. With less exposure to diverse views, users can believe that most of the world aligns with their beliefs, and those with opposing views are the outliers.
This idea of being wrong without awareness is better described by Kathryn Schulz, “Of all the things we are wrong about, this idea of error might well top the list. It is our meta-mistake: we are wrong about what it means to be wrong.” [7] So what should we do about it? Duffy argues that we need to learn from Daniel Kahneman’s teaching and engage in System 2 thinking, as System 1 fast thinking is incredibly prone to bias. [8]
In Why We’re Wrong About Nearly Everything, Duffy hopes to convince readers that the world is more diverse and extraordinary than our current understanding, and argues that the world isn’t as bad as we think, with most things getting better rather than worse. [9]
My advice? Cheer up. One of the best ways to confront our biases with people is to get to know them personally. Even people who are very different, are often interesting, have valuable perspectives, and not so bad after all.
References
[1] Duffy, Bobby. 2019. Why We’re Wrong about Nearly Everything: A Theory of Human Misunderstanding. First US edition. New York: Basic Books.
[2] “Professor Bobby Duffy.” n.d. King’s College London. Accessed March 17, 2024. https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/bobby-duffy.
[3] André Sturesson. n.d. “Health Psychology and Human Nature.” Accessed March 17, 2024. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/10-why-were-wrong-about-nearly-everything-professor/id1498773578?i=1000467971284.
[4] Bobby Duffy. 2023. “Britain Divided? Don’t You Believe It We’ve Never Been More United, Says BOBBY DUFFY.” Express. April 27, 2023. https://www.express.co.uk/comment/expresscomment/1763672/United-kingdom-friendliest-country-culture-wars-Britain.
[5] André Sturesson. “Health Psychology and Human Nature.”
[6] Ibid.
[7] Kathryn Schulz, Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error (New York: HarperCollins Publisher, 2010), 5.
[8] Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011), 230.
[9] Duffy, Why We’re Wrong about Nearly Everything: A Theory of Human Misunderstanding.
About the Author
Christy Liner
7 responses to “Biases exposed”
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Christy,
I teach my students that everyone has biases, positive and negative and we must constantly challenge them and its okay to have them as long as we are open to challenging them. I also teach my students that one person never defines a whole group and a whole group never defines every person that belongs to that group. I appreciate your changed biases about the LGBTQ+ population. I have learned so much over the last few years. I’m not sure if you know Preston Sprinkle. He wrote a book about Transgender and how the church should respond titled Embodied. I read a couple excerpts to one of my classes and I can barely read without crying (happy tears). Preston also does a podcast called Theology in the Raw and brings on many guests to discuss many different issues from many different perspectives. Listening to it, allows me to learn how I am wrong. As you read the Duffy’s book were there any stats given that you found yourself having been wrong in your beliefs?
Hi Jeff, I love Preston Sprinkle and listened to his podcast frequently (until we started our doctoral program!)
As I read the book, I wasn’t surprised at the misunderstanding of most of the issues (immigration, teen pregnancy, etc.) I did laugh at the stats on obesity, and realized that I’m guilty of underestimating my own sugar consumption!
Hi Christy, I appreciate your take on the book. Is there a way that biases might impact your work? If so, how do you mitigate the impact of them? thanks.
Christy,
As soon as I started reading this book, I thought, “I bet Christy is going to love this book!” I’m so glad I was right on that — LOL.
Thanks for sharing your vulnerable story and recognizing your misconceptions. I always say, “don’t judge a book by its cover.”
If you were to share that story to a group of children, what do you think might be a great teaching point — a moral to your story?
Hi Nancy, thanks for thinking of me!
Our brains take all sorts of shortcuts – thank God that they do, or we’d never get anything done. But sometimes these shortcuts (also called mental models, biases, etc.) can be wrong. The shortcuts aren’t bad in and of themselves – we need them to function as a society. Imagine if we didn’t have these shortcuts. We’d be driving and come to a red light and unsure of what to do next. The problem is when the shortcuts are wrong, and worse yet, when we are convinced that there is no chance of the shortcuts being wrong.
The anecdote? Use shortcuts with wisdom. Be humble and open to the possibility of them being wrong.
Hey Christy,
I am totally stuck on your words “And then I met her.” what a powerful five words. We could write that about SO many things that we have biases towards – then I met an immigrant, then I met an ex-felon, then I met a Muslim. I think so many times that is what it takes. Meet them talk with them and get to know them.
Thank you for that. Its gonna stick with me!!
AMEN! For me, I could also say, “and then I got to know…”:
-And then I got to know a muslim
-And then I got to know a lesbian
-And then I got to know the angry person I was working with
-And then I got to know the person with autism
-And then I got to know the parents of my foster children