Complexify

Binary bias is the bane of our existence. If I think about the majority of the troubles in the world currently and throughout history; a person’s or people’s laser focus and tunnel vision of a determined personal proclamation of beliefs and moral concerns appear, to me, to be a significant contributor to an ongoing and very unfortunate problem. A clear-cut division determines and forms polarized extremes of the ideals held by “us” and “them”. People who hold these binary biases assume that all are divided into two sides: those who agree with them and those who do not. This bias explains the human proneness to look for ways to simplify the complex and trying experiences of life. Putting these experiences into two categories helps to resolve this but closes our minds and simplifies our thinking. This type of division has been ongoing since humans came into existence (a 300,000-350,000-year-old modern human skull was discovered in Morocco in 2017) – my beliefs, religion, race, political proclamation, socioeconomic standing, hierarchical employment standing, as opposed to yours. Can you imagine 350,000 years of discord birthed from this tunnel vision? People with tunnel vision are like the looking glass with its focused beam or viewpoint that subsequently sparks a destructive fiery flame. Wars, battles, arguments, murders, hatred, distrust – many unjust and horrific events have occurred from people’s steadfast close-mindedness regarding beliefs, misunderstandings, and the lengths to which they will go to prove that their view is the only and correct one.

I guess the human condition is much to blame – in terms of our devotion and passion towards things that we find so significant; that which feed meaning and purpose to our existence – religion, philosophy, history, and psychology. A human being’s innate survival instinct is to categorize and organize things, objects, and ideas that exist around us and simplify our understanding of the world to survive each and every day. Categorizing is important in learning, predicting, decision-making, and in helping us deal with future situations, environments, and interactions with others. The need for such simplification can lead to the establishment of tunnel vision, narrow-minded thinking, and group polarization. Whether simplification originates through different filters from anal-retentive people who live simplified and orderly lives to find purpose and power within their filtered bubbles to narcissists, as delusional as they are, who believe they are superior, always correct, find purpose and power in their superiority, or everyday people looking to reduce input, additional stressors, or just don’t want to deal – simplification can be counter-effective in areas of intensified situations where compromise or understanding need to take place.

The remedy to binary biases is complexifying or showcasing a range of perspectives. Acknowledging a multitude of views helps people recognize that matters are not just black and white and that their own beliefs contain many layers that may require time to decipher. With this pause giving time for inspection, we would not only understand that we bear more in common than not, but we would also discover that within these many layers that make up each one of our beliefs, we might find that some of “our” and “their” beliefs might actually intertwine and blend to some degree. Viewing a multitude of perspectives would give us pause to think again with more depth perception, disrupt an overconfidence cycle, and allow us to hold more humility about what we know, put more thought into what we opine, and bring about more curiosity to reveal what is new and unknown to us.

Being a skeptic is beneficial in creating complexity. To come from a scientific stance opens up novel and undiscovered ways of thinking about things. I do not believe everything I hear which in turn creates friction between me and others who conclude to just satisfice. I do approach subject matters or perspectives, unlike mine by asking critical questions to update my thinking as I gain access to new information and oftentimes find myself on a roll with no end in sight. I notice when there is omission and inconsistency. I notice when information does not make sense. I look into it until it does and if it does not; I continue my search for answers. I will continue to be skeptical. I will continue to think like a young scientist and identify problems, develop hypotheses, and design my own experiments to test them. I will leave the deniers and their priori rejection of ideas without objective consideration to wallow in the vestiges of reality.  

A good starting point to overcoming binary bias is to become aware of the range of perspectives across a given spectrum. One definition of a spectrum is a band of colors, as seen in a rainbow, produced by the separation of components of light by their differing degrees of refraction according to wavelengths. What a perfect way to describe human beings and how we are separated by components of thoughts and beliefs, of varying degrees. Human beings are a collection of one. I offer another analogy. People are like rainbows. We are made up of many beliefs, behaviors, and experiences that make up who we are, individuals that make up one human race. We are made up of many colors. I might be purple, blue, and green. You might be green, yellow, or red. Not only are you and I green, but the blue and yellow make green. There are numerous ways we are alike – connected. Some may be direct relationships and some may be a blend of some commonalities. All the varied elements come together in various degrees and in different ways to make up one rainbow.

The subjects or beliefs that we feel so passionate about can, unfortunately, create such divisiveness in friendships, relationships, and family members that it can result in very hostile interactions or the ending of relationships if we are not careful. Integrating complexity into conversations can shift the attention from “why” there is a problem to “how” can we work together to discover a resolution. Adding caveats can introduce a cautionary note to any discussion so that participants do not focus on finding only one solution. It allows people to remain open-minded while accepting that there may be many solutions. Adding contingencies identify all the areas that may change and again allows people to remain open-minded in accepting that the solution might also change.

Yes, binary bias is the bane of our existence. It is not “us” versus “them”. Our laser focus and tunnel vision of our personal proclamation of beliefs and moral concerns as being the only truth is problematic. Adding complexity in our efforts to expand our thinking, evaluation, and understanding, and throwing in a solid dose of vulnerability, would develop trust, ignite empathy, and harmony to open lines of communication that may in the end give us all a chance at some semblance of a peaceful and accepting co-existence.

Follow me here or on Twitter @NancyMuesDesign or let’s connect on Linkedin or Facebook! Share your thoughts or your own experiences here in the comment section.

Be good and do good. And remember, express yourself in any way that brings you joy and relief and share it with the world. You don’t owe it to anyone but yourself. Stay happy, healthy, safe, and happy graphics, my friend.

Thank you for stopping by.

Photo source: NASA VIA AP