{"id":31982,"date":"2023-03-22T01:43:54","date_gmt":"2023-03-22T08:43:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=31982"},"modified":"2023-03-22T01:43:54","modified_gmt":"2023-03-22T08:43:54","slug":"the-pursuit-of-happiness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/the-pursuit-of-happiness\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pursuit of Happiness"},"content":{"rendered":"

The evidence is mounting. The conclusion is clear: we are likely to misread reality. We\u2019ve read about this through various lenses. Be it admitting our errors (Kathryn Schulz\u2019s Being Wrong<\/em>) or the risk of developing cancer (Chivers and Chivers How to Read Numbers<\/em>), we must face our own misperceptions and just general lack of ability to understand statistics. Our brains, the highly efficient meaning-making machines that they are, take all sorts of shortcuts to help us function.<\/p>\n

Bobby Duffy in The Perils of Perception:<\/em> Why We\u2019re Wrong About Nearly Everything <\/em>walks us through numerous areas where misperceptions are prevalent. Topics such as health, money, sexuality, and immigration are all fraught.<\/p>\n

What can we do about it? In response Duffy first refers to Kahneman\u2019s work in Thinking, Fast and Slow,<\/em> then in his own words he rephrases: \u201cIt is possible to learn when our initial perceptions are likely to be biased. We can slow down and consider whether we\u2019re being led astray.\u201d[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve been down this road before. What sets Duffy\u2019s work apart from the others we\u2019ve read? The bit that stood out to me was the research on happiness. We hear so much about everybody \u201cfiltering\u201d their life for social media and hiding the reality. Social media is the ultimate \u201cfront stage\u201d context (Simon Walker, The Undefended Leader<\/em>). Duffy explains this social media image phenomenon, calling it social desirability bias – \u201cthe deep-seated need to make ourselves look good, to present a positive impression or to give the responses we think are expected.\u201d[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s true, looking at my Facebook feed it sometimes seems like everyone is always jetting off on weekend in Florida or beautiful hikes on their lunch hour while I\u2019m doing absolutely nothing. That\u2019s why I was surprised at first when Duffy says survey respondents rated their own happiness higher than they perceived their peers were experiencing. And this is happening, not just in rainy London or freezing cold Siberia but universally, across at least the 32 countries listed on Duffy\u2019s chart.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

Happiness surveys might seem like a sort of fluff topic, but this is actually very significant. A theme our of learning in this class has been to lead out of self-awareness. We set ourselves up for failure if we claim to lead out of self-awareness, but all the while we\u2019re blinded by this misperception about those we serve, namely that they\u2019re relatively unhappy. That assumption will change how we serve and lead. Duffy reminds us of our aim \u201cto hold on to a fact-based understanding of the world.\u201d[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

To bring these thoughts full circle, let\u2019s revisit the larger theme of The Perils of Perception<\/em>. Our brains end up with misperceptions because they are being efficient, yes, but also in order to make us happier by resolving cognitive dissonance.<\/em> A Goodreads review speaks to this goal, \u201cto prevent cognitive dissonance, or the state of uncertainty and doubt regarding one\u2019s beliefs. This unpleasant feeling is easy to avoid simply by surrounding yourself only with those that think like you… we avoid cognitive dissonance because we don\u2019t want to change our beliefs; and we don\u2019t want to change our beliefs because they are tied to our identity.\u201d[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

I wrote at length about cognitive dissonance in a previous post. For the moment, suffice it to say that cognitive dissonance is often a very unpleasant emotion. At the same time, it is an inevitable part of the human experience. Learning to live in that tension, learning to hold the ambiguity, has been a recent theme in my leadership and ministry. To conclude, allow me to share a few of my \u201cfavorite things\u201d. These are the concepts from our DLGP learning that are making me happier because they are helping me deal with cognitive dissonance.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Ubuntu: My identity is intimately tied up in my relationships, my community.<\/li>\n
  2. Differentiation: Seemingly at odds with Ubuntu, but ultimately I am rooted in Christ and not in what others think of me.<\/li>\n
  3. Templating: I have been intentionally taking baby steps toward improving my public speaking, conflict management and other skills.<\/li>\n
  4. Non-anxious presence: The more I lean into this, the more I see how very necessary and paradigm-shifting it is.<\/li>\n
  5. Neuroscience-based theological writing: God made the brain so we shouldn\u2019t be surprised that neuroscience and theology can overlap.<\/li>\n
  6. This learning community: \u00a0I learn so much from you all week after week.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    _____________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

    [1]<\/a> Duffy, Bobby. The Perils of Perception: Why We\u2019re Wrong About Nearly Everything.<\/em> Atlantic Books, London: 2018. 304.<\/p>\n

    [2]<\/a> Ibid. 64.<\/p>\n

    [3]<\/a> Ibid. 63.<\/p>\n

    [4]<\/a> Ibid. 32.<\/p>\n

    [5]<\/strong><\/a> \u201cThe Perils of Perception: Why We’re Wrong About Nearly Everything,\u201d Goodreads. Accessed March 20, 2023. https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/41124967-the-perils-of-perceptionCommunityReviews.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The evidence is mounting. The conclusion is clear: we are likely to misread reality. We\u2019ve read about this through various lenses. Be it admitting our errors (Kathryn Schulz\u2019s Being Wrong) or the risk of developing cancer (Chivers and Chivers How to Read Numbers), we must face our own misperceptions and just general lack of ability […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":186,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2310],"tags":[2489,2640],"class_list":["post-31982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doctor-of-leadership-3","tag-dlgp02","tag-duffy","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/186"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31982"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31983,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31982\/revisions\/31983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}