Check Yourself — Your Bias is Showing
Facing the real problem is American politics
The 2020 US Presidential Election is fast approaching which means it’s time that we take a sobering moment of self-care and talk about our past behavior, America. Unfortunately, American politics today has become something more akin to a bad reality TV show than an honest engagement of competing ideas and public policy.
The Polarization We All Participate In
The way in which we engage in political discussion today has a polarizing effect dominated by groupthink mentality and two-party tribalism. Our political beliefs have become synonymous with our very identify and as such, only serve to trigger further conflict between us. Though unlike other group identities, political ideology holds no social or legal norms that discourage discrimination and prejudice. In fact, we tend to celebrate it. We’ll often cheer on our political champions as they viciously attack those with opposing views. The political divide between us is only getting wider and if we’re speaking honestly — you and I have likely participated in this polarization, yet neither of us is immune to unfair prejudice or self-serving bias.
The problem with the political climate we currently live in is founded on our growing ego and inability to admit personal bias or recognize our own ignorance. Not unlike the infamous online debate over “The Dress” in 2015 or The Office “Hilary Swank” dispute, we tend to embrace our intuitive judgement and refuse to accept new information or the merits of other points of view. This problem is only exacerbated by our tendency to vilify our opponents and label compromise or bipartisanship as treasonous.
Political issues aside, extreme partisanship is changing how we treat each other in our day-to-day lives. We are more likely to date someone who shares our political ideologies, less likely to hire someone whose resume indicates partisan activity for an opposing party, and more willing to make purchases from a fellow partisan. In fact, new research indicates that we even hold political prejudices just as strongly as we do against different racial identities.
Understanding Our Opponents Better
As this contentious battle rages on, you might find yourself asking, “How could anyone be so slimy and terrible? How can they not agree with my virtuous convictions?” You may find it surprising (if not offensive) to learn that the same slimy, terrible person you’re thinking of is likely asking the same thing about you.
In psychology, there is a term known as motive attribution asymmetry (or when discussing political views — political motive asymmetry) which is the phenomenon of assuming that one’s ideology is based on love and an opposing ideology is based on hate. In 2014, an article was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on how this plays out in American politics. The authors of this study found that a majority of Republicans and Democrats suffer from political motive asymmetry (and that was before the 2016 election).
That means that you (the reader) — regardless of your political leaning — likely perceive your current political party to be noble and benevolent while also viewing the opposing political party to be rooted in evil. At the same time, the majority of that opposing party believes the same thing about you (i.e. that you’re the evil, hateful one).
Now you may be thinking, “That’s an interesting study, but my political views actually are selfless and motivated by love and the others guys actually are greedy and motivated by hate.” In reality, it is highly probable that your current perception of those in an opposing political party is riddled with misconceptions that you’ve subscribed to in order to comfort your personal bias. We tend to misportray opposing parties (either intentionally or not) by exaggerating their positions so that we can more easily criticize their views. We scoff and call them ignorant while overlooking our very own ignorance. The evidence is clear — the vitriol and gridlock that exists in our politics today grows not from a hatred of the other side, but from a misunderstanding of each other’s core beliefs and motivations.
Overcoming Political Prejudice
Now more than ever it is crucial that we find a way to overcome our political prejudice and learn to understand each other better. The same study that found the overwhelming presence of political motive asymmetry among Republicans and Democrats also discovered that the biased attributional pattern was mitigated when a financial incentive for accuracy was included. Or in other words, when motivated to depict others accurately we are capable of understanding the core motivations and merits of opposing views.
And no — the answer to our problem is not to expect financial compensation for actually trying to better understand one another. We just need to try. What we need is mutual empathy. We need to sit down with one another in an attempt to listen and hear each other out. We need to challenge our own views just as much as we challenge opposing views.
This year is an opportunity to try to understand each other better. If we don’t take the time to do that, then this election will have no victor. We’ll all lose.
Molly Ivins said it best:
“When politicians start talking about large groups of their fellow Americans as ‘enemies,’ it’s time for a quiet stir of alertness. Polarizing people is a good way to win an election, and also a good way to wreck a country.”
See also: Arthur Brook’s TED Talk
