Knee-jerk biases

[ironphoenix]

Here are six simple knee-jerk biases I try to watch for in myself:

1. If a member of a group or category I belong to does something of which I approve, my natural bias is to think that their status as a member of that group or category influenced them to do so.

2. If a member of a group or category I belong to does something of which I disapprove, my natural bias is to think that their status as a member of that group or category had little or no influence on them.

3. If a member of a group or category I don't belong to does something of which I disapprove, my natural bias is to think that their status as a member of that group or category influenced them to do so.

4. If a member of a group or category I don't belong to does something of which I approve, my natural bias is to think that their status as a member of that group or category had little or no influence on them.

5. If I do something of which I approve, my natural bias is to discount the influence of the groups or categories to which I belong.

6. If I do something of which I disapprove, my natural bias is to emphasize the influence of the groups or categories to which I belong.

Group or category membership is pretty broadly defined, and may but need not map strictly to universal labels. The important categories are those in my own head, which are partially but not completely socially defined.

These biases seem pretty much universal to me, but maybe that's a prejudice built on #6 above!

Comments

[ironphoenix.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... I guess I was raised in a fairly self-reliant, individualist way.

[maltesewarrior.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure self-reliance necessarily has anything to do with invidualism. ;) I know lots of people who are highly individualistic who couldn't navigate their way out of a box with a pair of box cutters.

[ironphoenix.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm not saying that individualism implies competence, whatever Heinlein may think of the matter. I was, taught? conditioned? to make my choices pretty much independently of others, and not look overmuch to others for support in my decisions.