The referenced passage reads (from the New International Version of the Bible):
(3) For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. (4) They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
Reading this passage reminded me of Harry Truman’s quote, “There is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know.” With the shift in national news reports from reliable updates on current events to entertainment delivered by pundits who target an audience that St. Paul likened to those who desire to hear what their itching ears want to hear, Paul’s letter to Timothy remains a prophetic message for us in the 21st century.
Social psychologists refer to this as “cognitive bias,” which is the tendency to seek out and focus on information that confirms personal beliefs while ignoring or dismissing information that challenges or contradicts them. This bias prevents seeing the ‘big picture’ on any topic. It promotes what is known as “groupthink,” a psychological phenomenon where the desire to conform within a group results in poor decision-making.
Allow me to digress for a moment. Those familiar with the old PBS radio series, A Prairie Home Companion, will recognize Lake Wobegone as the fictional setting for this popular show. Its host, Garrison Keillor, described Lake Wobegone as a place, “where all the women are strong and all the men are good-looking.” This series’ tagline led to what became known as the “Lake Wobegone Effect” by social scientists studying how people rate themselves on various tasks, from driving skill to intelligence and everything in between.
Social scientists often find that respondents tend to rate themselves as ‘above average’ on task-oriented surveys, with as many as 65% doing so. As everyone knows, using basic grade school math, most respondents cannot truly be ‘above average,’ yet this is what researchers consistently observe. So, how can this be?
A partial explanation, for which I lack data to support this hypothesis, might relate to the limited sample of individuals we tend to compare ourselves with when assessing our abilities. But how does this connect to the earlier point about cognitive bias and groupthink, not to mention St. Paul’s 2000-year-old comment?
Suppose I only seek out people who tell me what I want to hear, and their information confirms my existing beliefs. In that case, we can start to understand the divisive ideological split in modern politics. Take this a step further, where the public now only looks for information that supports their personal views about “what’s what,” and you have a possible explanation for the source of the rancor and discord that seem to permeate today’s popular culture.
So, what can we do? Although this might be an unanswerable question, at least in the short term, we can limit our involvement in this process. Consider these steps:
· Recognize that we are all susceptible to the Siren’s call of information that appeals to our belief that it’s true, also known as cognitive bias.
· Recognize that the era of “just the facts” news reporting ended with Walter Cronkite, Huntley-Brinkley, and Howard K. Smith.
· Limit the time spent on Internet and cable news feeds that offer narrow and one-sided assessments of current events.
o Better yet, avoid those sources of information altogether and subscribe to a service that provides only headlines without biased interpretation.
· Seek out others with different opinions to discuss important issues, and listen to understand their point of view rather than to prepare a rebuttal.
o Keep William Shatner’s (Captain Kirk) quote in mind: We meet aliens every day who have something to give us. They come in the form of people with different opinions.
And when involved in one of these conversations, many open-ended questions can help stimulate the discussion:
· To clarify the conversation: “What do you mean by…” or “Tell me a bit more about that.”
· To probe the other’s opinion: “What led you to that conclusion?” or “How does this opinion align with your other beliefs?”
· Perspective-taking questions: “How does this opinion affect others?” or “What might be some other ways to look at this situation?”
· To explore emotion: “Tell me more about that,” or “Please elaborate on that point.”
· To find more examples of “conversation enhancers,” prompt your favorite search engine with, Questions to help understand another’s opinion
Think about how different conversations would be in Washington or your state’s capital if questions like those just mentioned punctuated the dialogue. There's another quote from the Hebrew Bible that addresses this topic: A person’s thoughts are like a deep well, but someone with insight can draw them out. Proverbs 20:5
