In today’s quote, Adam Grant writes, “As consumers of information, we have a role to play in embracing a more nuanced point of view. When we’re reading, listening, or watching, we can learn to recognize complexity as a signal of credibility. We can favor content and sources that present many sides.”
In our fast-paced world, we often prefer to digest simple ideas or opinions, rather than process complex information. We like to break everything down into black and white and prefer strong statements that elicit a strong emotional response. We don’t have time for the complex.
Unfortunately, this attitude has led to a culture of shallow thinking and outrage, where people jump to conclusions and have a strong emotional response without taking the time to understand the whole story. The problem is that most issues in the world are much more complicated than we like to think.
Complexity Can be a Positive
Complexity is often viewed as a negative thing, but it’s actually a positive regarding understanding. There are two sides to every story, and often more. Very little in this world is simple.
“Acknowledging complexity doesn’t make speakers and writers less convincing; it makes them more credible. It doesn’t lose viewers and readers; it maintains their engagement while stoking their curiosity.”
Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know, Adam Grant
I appreciate it when a writer or speaker acknowledges that his topic is complex and tries to give me an objective overview of the main approaches. It helps me to understand the issues and lets me know if I feel this is a simple topic I’m wrong. It helps me to be open to alternative viewpoints.
A Culture of Jumping to Conclusions Based on Simplicity
However, our current culture doesn’t favor complex ideas. Instead, we prefer to “condemn more, understand less,” as Johann Hari writes in his book, Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention–and How to Think Deeply Again. Hari explains this attitude “has become the default response of almost everyone, from the right to the left, as we spend our lives dancing to the tune of algorithms that reward fury and penalize mercy.”
A video goes viral and people are outraged by their initial and incomplete perceptions of what happened in the video. There are calls for protests, firings, and boycotts. Only later does it come out that there was much more context to the video, that the video showed only one aspect of a very complex situation, and the part that they saw was in fact misleading as to what actually happened.
This culture of outrage is fed by social media and the news. Media businesses prompt and encourage outrage because it keeps readers engaged and results in higher profits for them from advertising. People enjoy being outraged because it makes them feel superior and like they’re doing something.
Unfortunately, they’re not taking the time to think it through and seek the facts. Instead, they’re jumping to conclusions and adding fuel to the fire. It’s click-bait that seeks to give an emotional experience, rather than a thoughtful one.
How to Overcome “Binary Bias”
“To overcome binary bias, a good starting point is to become aware of the range of perspectives across a given spectrum.” Think Again, Adam Grant. The example Grant brings up here is that of views about climate change. It’s often presented in a binary fashion — people either don’t believe in it, or they do and agree on the solutions. That’s not at all accurate. “Polls suggest that on climate change, there are at least six camps of thought.”
Even scientists and people who accept climate change don’t all agree on the rate of change, the results of change, and what to do about it. And yet this issue is often presented in the media as an “either/or” binary choice. It’s much more complex than that.
We need to demand and support complexity.
We can’t favor strong, simple statements by swallowing the bait and getting upset. We need to stop and think and take the time to gather the facts before jumping to conclusions.
“We can favor content and sources that present many sides of an issue rather than just one or two.”
Think Again, Adam Grant
Summary: Think First Before Reacting
Complexity is a positive, not a negative. We should strive to seek the truth and understand the whole story rather than jumping to conclusions.
We should demand and support complexity and not be swayed by clickbait and outrage culture. Only then can we truly understand the world around us and make informed decisions.