We only see what we want to see

We only see what we want to see

My funny experience with the cognitive bias called motivated perception and what it teaches us

Many of us are totally flabbergasted, amazed, shocked and saddened by the fact that most people, and especially most of our leaders in business and government, do not see that we are headed towards oblivion. To you and I it is obvious that there are many, many signs that we are destroying ourselves and the world around us. And yet…. most people go about their daily business as if it’s just another normal day…. how is that possible?

Based upon a personal experience I had while camping in Algonquin Park the past few days I have a partial answer: we only see what we want to see. This cognitive bias is well known and is called motivated perception. Before we get into the details of this human foible, I’ll tell you what happened in Algonquin Park.

A friend had reserved a camping site for us, #16 – as you can see on the paper above. He knew approximately where it should be located as he had stayed at site #17 in the past. As we entered the camp site, we saw a sign that said, “sites 16 – 40 so he said to me; “turn into the first site – it must be #16”. He then placed our paper which we had to display to prove we had paid for the site on the post as shown above which clearly says “42” – which meant we were clearly in the wrong site…. and yet… because of motivated perception he did not see the 42 as he “knew” that he was in site #16, as logically speaking it MUST BE #16, as when the sign for the area said “site 16-40” it meant that the first site was #16! Obviously! However, given that the world is a messy and changeable place he was wrong. Unknown to us was the fact that site #42 was added after the sign had been made and was an emergency site for overflow. Ooops! He, like most of us, actually I would say ALL OF US when we are stressed or tired or hungry or anxious or… take your pick of emotions that cloud our thinking – succumb to not seeing the unexpected and metaphorically drive into site #42 “knowing” it is site #16 – and we are wrong and surprised when we find out we are wrong. There is a happy ending to this tale – when the park rangers found out that we were in the wrong spot the next day they let us stay there as the campground was mostly empty. We, of course, had a good laugh over this – especially as I had done something just as silly because I too had suffered from the same “I only see what I want to see” bias.

So, in the interest of fairness and objectivity [which are actually two dubious ideas that we strive for but never achieve] I will also tell you how I also suffered from the bias of motivated perception. When we turned off the highway onto the road to Algonquin I “knew”, from looking at the map [but not a close up, detailed look] that the road to Algonquin was a left turn and then a straight line to the campsite. So, I turned off the highway and missed seeing this LARGE sign:

No, I did NOT turn right like the sign said, because although the large sign did not say Algonquin Park, outfitters are only located on roads going into the park. Yes, it took me a few minutes to realize I was going the wrong way and I turned around so little time was lost. I could use the excuse that the sign did not say “Algonquin Park” [ there is a tiny green sign you see in the distance, which has very small letter says that] but the honest truth I did not even see either sign as I already “knew” the way. Boy, was I embarrassed when I realized I was going the wrong way – especially given the fact that I had been down this road many times before. I, like my friend, had fallen for the trap of “only seeing what I wanted to see”. Motivated perception won again.

Yikes. This funny and silly experience had me musing when we were later paddling on Grand Lake: could it be that because we are all so stressed and busy and alone and feeling powerless that our cognitive biases, like this one, have hijacked our brains? I think so. You see, research tells us that under chronic stress our brains dumb things down to make life simpler and simply to get us survive the day – long term planning and visioning be damned. I think that our leaders and most of us well-meaning folks are not trying to destroy the world – it’s just that we cannot see that we are doing it. We “know” how things work, and in that worldview, it is not possible for little old me, and the 8 billion others like me, to destroy life on a planetary scale. As we have our blinders on – we just don’t see the overwhelming evidence you and I see who have removed our blinders. Thus, the question is what will overcome our motivated perception bias?

Here are some ways that you can counteract the effect of bias, based on the work of Perception research advisor Jerry Kang [2]:

Doubt Objectivity— When we assume our own objectivity, implicit bias affects us more not less. Instead of assuming we’re considering things objectively, we need to understand how implicit bias works. By doing this, and by being skeptical of our own objectivity, we can decrease the likelihood of biased decision making.

Increase Motivation to be Fair—One obvious strategy our culture tends to use is to increase people’s fear of being called out for being racist. The problem with this strategy is it raises our racial anxiety, causing all sorts of secondary problems. Instead of increasing our worry about being called out, we need to increase our internal motivation to be fair. Concentrating on a positive desire for fairness rather than fear helps to decrease biased actions.

Improve Conditions of Decision-Making—Implicit bias happens automatically and influences our decision making automatically. When we take ourselves off autopilot—when we “think slow” instead of “thinking fast”— and move forward deliberately, our behavior tends to actually reflect our values instead of our biases.

Focus on Outcomes—implicitly biased behavior is best detected by using data to determine patterns. Is a process we think is fair leading to racially disparate outcomes? It’s likely that bias is affecting that process in ways we hadn’t considered.

In other words, what do we do about this as we attempt to find a way of out of our Industrial Society Death trap? Slow Down. Learn about your cognitive biases. Talk with somebody who see the world completely differently than you do and if possible, have them be your friend. And laugh at yourself when you find yourself thinking you are so smart, when in fact, you are just like my friend and I – smart at some moment and incredibly stupid at others. Talk with people in a way that is not threatening so they can see their motivated perception bias. Vote for anybody who has removed the ideas that make them blind to the facts pouring in that are just like the large 42 and the large sign saying, “Algonquin Outfitters”. Live differently to demonstrate to make it obvious to your family and neighbours that you see the world differently than they do. Join local organizations that are working on projects that save the wilderness and other species and help us to “live lightly” upon Mother Earth. Do whatever it takes to read the signs and turn the right way and park in the right campsite – and when enough of us do just that, when enough of us see our motivated perception bias, everything will change, and we will start moving in a direction that is life giving instead of death making. When will that be? Nobody knows? Will it come “too late”? Nobody knows that either. But I do not that if I don’t try, it will be as if my life had no meaning and no purpose.  All we can do is give it our best shot. And here’s the icing on the cake: when you choose a path that is life affirming YOUR life gets a lot better too!

References

1. https://www.verywellmind.com/cognitive-biases-distort-thinking-2794763 13 cognitive biases

2. https://perception.org/blog/solutionsmonday-mitigating-the-effects-of-bias/