dealing with bias- cognitivedissonance

this is an excellent article, courtesy of my local Democratic party. I think it pretty much explains why we need to come together and repair our party.


Dealing With My Bias
by Dick Barkey, County Party Chair
It was difficult for me to decide which Democratic Party presidential candidate to support up until a few days before our February 5th caucus. But, once I made up my mind I found that I began to take in information in a very biased way. I liked getting information that reinforced my choice…I savored those facts. Conversely, when new information went against my choice I received it with suspicion and tended to set it aside.

In an effort to understand my own biases I requested that Dr. Carey Chamberlain, one of our Jeffco Democrats and psychology professional to write on this topic. Here is his contribution to understanding biases.


Staying Afloat, Treading Water and Drowning the Other Guy
by Carey Chamberlin
A good friend of mine recently discovered the coach of his beloved Denver Broncos was invited to, and attended, the wedding of Jenna Bush. My friend is also an avid supporter of one of the two candidates for the Democratic Party nomination for president, and obviously not a die-hard Republican. Now he is in the middle of what is called “cognitive dissonance”. That’s two big words defined as holding two pieces of information that appear to be, or are, highly contradictory. Does my friend continue to attend the games at Invesco Field, recognizing that some of the money paid for the ticket will go to support the Republican Party? Or, does he retreat in his avid support of the Denver Broncos? The answer probably lies somewhere in between.


Another example would be a strong belief in the sanctity of life, and strong support of the death penalty. Almost all of us retain several values, beliefs or pieces of information that are completely contradictory. We rarely think about the contradictory values or beliefs we hold at the same time, so our experience of our “cognitive dissonance” is usually not conscious.


Democrats are now or will be soon facing a large, conscious conflict of beliefs. If we supported one Democratic candidate or another during this hard fought primary contest, we likely bolstered our decision by believing and communicating negative things about the other candidate. In close contests, be they sports contests, political contests, or personal contests, one of the natural and normal ways to enhance or improve our belief in one contestant is to believe negative things about the other contestant.


This is somewhat similar to cheering when our contestant treads water successfully, or even rises above the surface of the water based on his or her hard swimming. Once in a while (more frequently, unfortunately, in recent years), one candidate or the other employs the tactic of pushing the other contestant’s head under the water in order to stay above water. This practice is usually cheered by those who support the floating candidate, and those people also say the drowning candidate deserves what he or she gets.


In spite of our most fervent hopes about the wisdom of the American people, the 2008 November Presidential election is once again likely to be close; much closer than any of us would have thought possible a year ago at this time. If we are to help change the course of this nation, we have a major amount of work to do to rid ourselves of our contradictory beliefs about the Democratic Candidates. When Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton is nominated as the candidate for the Democratic Party in August, we will need to reconsider all those nasty things we heard and believed about the other candidate. The Party has to heal, and that process starts and ends with each one of us individually.


One way to do this is to stay away from all-or-nothing thinking. A fact about one candidate may be true, even if it is negative, but that does not mean we cannot consider the positives of that candidate also. Realistic adults recognize that we cannot expect our candidates to be perfect. Realistic adults also recognize that some of the statements and accusations made in the heat of this primary race may have been presented out of context or slightly twisted in their presentation. Importantly, the Presidential election is not a personality or popularity contest. Reconsideration of the negative impressions about one candidate or the other does not mean we cannot consider all the positive skills and abilities possessed by both candidates.


We must actively support the nominated Democratic Candidate to change the direction of Our Country. The time to start working on our own cognitive dissonance is now, because November is not far away.

Dr. Chamberlin is a fornsic psychologist and is a Democratic activist in Jeffco's house district 28 and is member of the Jeffcodems Communications Committee.
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