Journey Into Mastery - Week 35: The Illusion Of Objectivity

A source of tension between people with opposing ideas I think is the Illusion of Objectivity trap, that is, generally, we believe that our thoughts and opinions are the objective truth, free from bias. We think that any rational person given the same information would come to the same conclusion as us, because, I mean it’s obvious isn’t it?

George Carlin does a great bit that highlights the Illusion of Objectivity very well:

Have you ever noticed that anyone driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a manic?

I believe a parallel to this for educators may look something like:

Have you ever noticed that teachers doing less than you are lazy, and teachers doing more are trying to prove something?

Both of these examples assume that we are moving at exactly the right pace and that others are not. Another option worth considering, is that others are doing their own thing at a pace or style that works for them due to personal preference or ability. And that’s ok!

None of us are free from some sort of bias, we are a collection of them and they are influenced by our life experiences. When we discuss biases we tend to immediately consider the harm they can cause when they take the form of racism, sexism, etc. They are less harmful, but still unfortunate, when they lead to conflict with others, or, forming negative opinions of them because we are making comparisons to what we feel is the objective truth. There is no ‘objective’ when it comes to opinions, even facts can be interpreted or valued differently depending on the person.

So one of the big things we need to come to terms with is to recognize that even our own opinions, which can feel obvious sometimes, are subject to those biases so they may not be as obvious to everyone else.

This is not to say that all biases are all bad, in education I want educators who have a bias towards believing all students can succeed! However, biases do impact our thinking and create blind spots.

Another way to frame biases is using the term ‘lens’ trying to see things through the same lens as another person is a key element when reaching consensus and understanding of one another. Look at the visual below

If you are looking through the Green lens you see one word, the red another word, but neither completely captures what they are actually looking at. If they argued about what it was, both would sort of be right since it is rooted in fact, but neither is completely right or able to disprove the other. By understanding that your lens means you may be missing part of the phrase, both can work together to figure it out.

Being aware in this way allows us to give grace and take a step back, realizing that there may be more to it than how we can see it from our viewpoint. None of us are truly objective since it is nearly impossible to remove all the lenses that we view the world through. This is how we can take the same information and arrive at different conclusions, and none of those conclusions is wholly correct or incorrect. The trick is recognizing that very little is actual objective when we engage in dialogue with one another, and that we can in fact see things differently despite having the same starting information.

~ Owen

@omatchim