Open and Closed Minds
Bill Webb
July 07, 2007
Basic truths about human nature hold up well, despite time’s winged chariot. Back in the 1960’s, Milton Rokeach, of the University of Michigan, wrote one of the seminal books about the mental processes of prejudice.1 In it, he noted that people who are chronically anxious, insecure or frightened cling desperately to their belief systems, and are too busy defending themselves against real or imagined threats to absorb information about reality. The more upset we are, the less we are able to consider other ideas, and the more stubbornly we cling to the beliefs that give us comfort and make us feel secure in a changing world.
This is what we refer to as black and white thinking. Each of us has two frames of reference, what Rokeach called "belief systems" and "disbelief systems." Our belief systems inform, for better or for worse, our everyday interactions with what we perceive as reality. They involve relatively fixed ideas. If racial prejudices are part of our belief systems, our behavior toward people of other ethnic backgrounds will reflect them. If we hold to particular religious convictions, they will illuminate our view of the world to greater or lesser extent.
That extent is related to our disbelief system, the things that others believe -- or seem to -- that are at variance with our own beliefs. On a good day, when our lives are running smoothly and we’re enjoying a feeling of well being, we may be able to consider other people’s ideas with a degree of equanimity. We may be able to see their point, if not agree with it completely, and consider ways in which it does not necessarily conflict with our own world view.
When, however, our world is looking bleak, we automatically revert to our own belief systems -- the emotional places where we feel most secure. The degree to which we do this is related to understanding of the "big picture": level of education, amount of lifetime exposure to the beliefs of others, our long-term success in dealing with the world, our desire to be open minded, and various other factors including peer pressure (it’s hard to be a liberal in a redneck bar). The important thing to remember is that we all do it, and we may never realize it.
In very few areas is this more apparent than in politics, which most of us don’t really understand, and that many perceive as something over which we have little control. We are, nonetheless, consumingly aware that it affects our well being in myriad ways. If we happen to be of a mindset that equates politics with other "trigger" subjects, such as religion, our response is usually even more one-sided.
The reality of politics, on the other hand, is the ability of politicians to consider each other’s belief systems (their individual disbelief systems) and to work around the differences.
The rhetoric that politicians display in public is aimed at the belief systems of their constituents. Most politically astute people have a clear idea of the things that will polarize the voter base and, by playing on the areas that will make the voters feel most insecure, they lock them into their belief systems in such a way that they look at the pol -- their champion, who "thinks like we do" -- as the savior who will lead them out of the darkness of other people’s ignorance into the Promised Land. They rarely speak of real compromise, but rather of "us" versus "them," the politics of fear.
A given politician may or may not espouse, in private, those same values -- may or may not hold to them in his or her political dealings; in fact, probably won’t. Successful politicos are well aware of the differences among belief systems, and are able to negotiate them effectively. In conference, where the real work gets done, they are masters of negotiation. They consider the other parties’ positions, evaluate the ways in which they may all bend their preferences in order to craft a mutually agreeable piece of legislation, discuss them rationally with their counterparts on the "other side," and then settle on courses of action that will (they hope) satisfy enough voters on each side of the fence, and keep them in office long enough to secure their fortunes in the manner of all politicos everywhere.
Although they seem to be creatures of polarity, in reality our various legislators and the executive branch work well together. They make their compromises and their deals, all the while keeping the emotional pressure on the voter bases, and insuring thereby that they will remain retreated into their own belief systems, unable -- because of simple fear -- to consider the other guy's point of view.
___________________________
1Rokeach, Milton. The Open and Closed Mind. New York: Basic Books, 1960.
This is what we refer to as black and white thinking. Each of us has two frames of reference, what Rokeach called "belief systems" and "disbelief systems." Our belief systems inform, for better or for worse, our everyday interactions with what we perceive as reality. They involve relatively fixed ideas. If racial prejudices are part of our belief systems, our behavior toward people of other ethnic backgrounds will reflect them. If we hold to particular religious convictions, they will illuminate our view of the world to greater or lesser extent.
That extent is related to our disbelief system, the things that others believe -- or seem to -- that are at variance with our own beliefs. On a good day, when our lives are running smoothly and we’re enjoying a feeling of well being, we may be able to consider other people’s ideas with a degree of equanimity. We may be able to see their point, if not agree with it completely, and consider ways in which it does not necessarily conflict with our own world view.
When, however, our world is looking bleak, we automatically revert to our own belief systems -- the emotional places where we feel most secure. The degree to which we do this is related to understanding of the "big picture": level of education, amount of lifetime exposure to the beliefs of others, our long-term success in dealing with the world, our desire to be open minded, and various other factors including peer pressure (it’s hard to be a liberal in a redneck bar). The important thing to remember is that we all do it, and we may never realize it.
In very few areas is this more apparent than in politics, which most of us don’t really understand, and that many perceive as something over which we have little control. We are, nonetheless, consumingly aware that it affects our well being in myriad ways. If we happen to be of a mindset that equates politics with other "trigger" subjects, such as religion, our response is usually even more one-sided.
The reality of politics, on the other hand, is the ability of politicians to consider each other’s belief systems (their individual disbelief systems) and to work around the differences.
The rhetoric that politicians display in public is aimed at the belief systems of their constituents. Most politically astute people have a clear idea of the things that will polarize the voter base and, by playing on the areas that will make the voters feel most insecure, they lock them into their belief systems in such a way that they look at the pol -- their champion, who "thinks like we do" -- as the savior who will lead them out of the darkness of other people’s ignorance into the Promised Land. They rarely speak of real compromise, but rather of "us" versus "them," the politics of fear.
A given politician may or may not espouse, in private, those same values -- may or may not hold to them in his or her political dealings; in fact, probably won’t. Successful politicos are well aware of the differences among belief systems, and are able to negotiate them effectively. In conference, where the real work gets done, they are masters of negotiation. They consider the other parties’ positions, evaluate the ways in which they may all bend their preferences in order to craft a mutually agreeable piece of legislation, discuss them rationally with their counterparts on the "other side," and then settle on courses of action that will (they hope) satisfy enough voters on each side of the fence, and keep them in office long enough to secure their fortunes in the manner of all politicos everywhere.
Although they seem to be creatures of polarity, in reality our various legislators and the executive branch work well together. They make their compromises and their deals, all the while keeping the emotional pressure on the voter bases, and insuring thereby that they will remain retreated into their own belief systems, unable -- because of simple fear -- to consider the other guy's point of view.
___________________________
1Rokeach, Milton. The Open and Closed Mind. New York: Basic Books, 1960.
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