Looking for a Bit of Good News

Let’s Look for a Little Good News

© 2022 Robert J Chapman, PhD

 

Preoccupation with tracking the latest on the pandemic has caused me to overlook that COVID is neither the only nor the most persistent pandemic we should be worried about. Our tendency to think in binary terms, that either–or way of thinking, where anything outside, beyond, or different from my view of the world is, at best, wrong and, at worst, dangerous. Binary thinking requires living in an "us and them" world, where to protect "our" view of what is right and to defend against "theirs,” we fall into many cognitive biases that tend to sabotage our capacity for rational thought and therefore hinder our ability, if not willingness, to show compassion and embrace our innate humanism.

 

Confirmation bias and the availability heuristic are two common biases that foster much of the negativism, doubt, and suspicion experienced when considering “them” and their attitudes, values, and beliefs. The result is the frequent display of contempt that shows itself in disregarding authority, distrusting those who differ from our thinking, and the civil and political strife that afflicts our planet in the 21^st century.

 

Confirmation bias is the tendency to seek out information that supports my beliefs and represents "the truth" while ignoring any argument or evidence that contradicts them. The availability heuristic—where “heuristic” is simply a fancy term for a mental shortcut—supports cognitive bias by making what we see and hear most often seem like reality. When these two biases happen together, I tend to look for evidence that backs my views on the truth and makes yours seem wrong or even dangerous—creating plenty of “available” information that strengthens my beliefs. 

 

As tough as the times we live in can be, there's good news and more than just a hint of hope: a sort of

vaccine to protect against these cognitive biases. To support this bold claim, I share a couple of my favorites as examples.

First, Playing for Change. This project records music performed by street musicians and people from all walks of life around the world, then edits them into very moving and uplifting covers of some of the most memorable 20^th-century songs, especially those with lyrics of hope and love. Two of my favorites are the 1960s Sly and the Family Stone's "Everyday People" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-g4UWvcZn5U and Ben E. King's "Stand By Me" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us-TVg40ExM. To hear more examples, search "Playing for Change" on YouTube.

 

For good news about current events, visit the Reasons to be Cheerful website: https://tinyurl.com/27w7zs6v. This site curates stories from around the world that showcase the good in the world and promote a sense of hope, if only we seek it.

 

Humans tend to fall prey to many of the cognitive biases mentioned above. To prevent these common pitfalls, we need to seek information beyond our usual sources. Note that none of the hopeful examples cited above relate to politics, religion, or any specific ideology. Each one focuses on highlighting our potential as humans to move toward a celebration of "we the people” and a “both-and” approach to thinking.

 

In conclusion, watch any episode of John Krasinski's Some Good News on his YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/c/SomeGoodNews) to, once again, boost your sense of hope and reaffirm that some people are trying to do something to counteract the negativity, gloom, and catastrophizing that "seems" so widespread in the world today.

 

What do you think?

 

 

What We Need to Understand About Willpower

Willpower is arguably a social construction that we humans have conjured up to explain why some are successful in controlling their behavior while others are not -- For those who do, we say they “have willpower” while those who do not, don’t. 

What is willpower but a means by which we choose to measure our ability to control ourselves and/or our

environment. This preoccupation with control, especially when measured regarding our ability to regulate our personal behavior, lends itself to a binomial consideration of success…we either succeed or fail in exercising that control. However, it is just this point…viewing willpower as an ability one either possesses or not…that results in self-defeating beliefs when struggling with efforts to self-direct behavior change. But what if willpower is not so much an ability one either has or does not have, like a biological trait genetically passed along by birth parents, but a skill capable of development like any other?

The first step in developing this skill of self-regulation is identifying the specific details associated with the behavior I am trying to regulate. If, for example, I “drink too much” and have come to the realization that I have a “drinking problem,” then the behavior I am trying to regulate is my drinking and my objective is to drink less if not quit altogether. Although “not drinking” may seem the obvious objective, until and unless I understand the details associated with my issue, I am likely to think that the only option available to meet my quit-objective is to “will myself” to “not do it,” the white-knuckle approach to change if you will. With willpower as my perceived only approach to change, I assign the responsibility for my success to a supposed character trait, one that I may or may not have. In short, viewing willpower as a trait relegates my ability to change to the genes I inherited from my biological parents, which makes the likelihood of my success little more than a crapshoot. But is this an accurate assessment of how people change? Are only “some of us” destined to change our behavior should we wish to do so?

And what if “willpower” is a skill rather than a trait? A skill, like any other, capable of development over time through practice. By attending to the details of my behavior, for example, my drinking, I can identify important clues that affect my ability to change it…or change my gambling habit, or failure to take my medication, or “whatever” it is I seek to change. If what-causes-a-problem-is-a-problem-when-it-causes-a-problem, then the more I know about “it,” the better prepared I am to make appropriate behavioral changes that support my ultimate change objective. When I do “it,” where I do “it,” with whom I do “it,” etc. This is consistent with viewing willpower as a skill that I develop. Like the old joke about the visitor to N. Y. City when asking the maestro, “How do I get to Carnegie Hall” gets the reply, “Practice, practice, practice,” the will to change is as much a skill that one develops as it is a personal desire to alter one’s behavior.

The more I know about “my habit” or the pattern of behavior I wish to change, the better prepared I am to address it. And when I do decide to address it, I am choosing to act on that behavior rather than react to it. This means my success in changing my behavior has more to do with the steps I take that support that change than the amount of willpower I may or may not have been born with. In short, as a skill, willpower is something developed, strengthened, controlled, and then, directed.