DADS READ: “Duck! Rabbit!” by Amy Krouse Rosenthal & Tom Lichtenheld

JER: “Duck! Rabbit!” by Amy Krouse Rosenthal & Tom Lichtenheld masterfully displays the connection between perspective and cognitive bias.  The human brain is a magical meaning-making machine.  As explained by the books “The Righteous Mind” and “Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me)”, the human brain is programmed to react based on emotions and justify those actions to convince ourselves that we have made the right decisions.  

I want to believe that “free will” exists, and that I am in control of my decisions, but there is growing research that helps demonstrate that humans can see, think, and feel that mutually exclusive realities exist based on their perspectives.  The 2020 Presidential Election is an example.  Some people, government officials included, claim that there was rampant, significant voter fraud that “stole” the election.  Other people, government officials included, claim that the election was the “most secure in history”. This event shouldn’t convince us that some people “get it” and other people are “mistaken or duped”. What we think about an event or a fact largely depends on our tribe, our community, our past experiences, and the cognitive lenses that color our world.  The more I learn about cognitive biases and moral psychology, the more empathetic and curious I am about the world.  If you are having trouble communicating with someone in your life or community about politics, I highly recommend learning about Street Epistemology.  

If you are having trouble relating to the various perspectives on politics around right now, think of another topic: religion (orthodox religion vs. reform/progressive religion vs. new age spiritualism vs. no religion/none vs. atheist), nutrition (standard diet vs. paleo/meat diet vs. Weston A. Price diet vs. vegetarian diet vs. raw vegan diet), music/culture (rap vs. classical; ballet vs. square dancing; opera vs. pop stars), sports (football vs. basketball vs. soccer vs. hockey), etcetera.  There is room for different perspectives and different viewpoints.  May we all be more empathetic, kind, and charitable to one another.  A lot of us are seeing the world in very different lights and with varying levels of hope and/or despair.  But we must figure out how to make it through this together.