Biased communication results from
Five unasked questions.
Watch our Truth in Two to find out why (full text below).
Support MarkEckel.com (here). Find the MarkEckel.com YouTube Channel (here). Mark is President of The Comenius Institute (website). Dr. Eckel spends time with Christian young people in public university (1 minute video), teaching at Indiana University Purdue University at Indianapolis, and interprets culture from a Christian vantage point (1 minute video). Consider becoming a Comenius patron (here).
Picture Credit: Josh Collingwood, Snappy Goat
FULL TEXT
In 2009 I earned my PhD degree. Earning a doctoral degree is a very long, very difficult process – as it should be. But to be honest, I can summarize the two major takeaways from PhD study that can apply to everyday life. In this week’s Truth in Two, the first major PhD lesson is this:
As soon as you’ve asked a question, you’ve biased your research.
What you care about will bias how you study about what you care about. That you care is not the problem. The problem is that you might neglect other arguments or perspectives simply because they do not match your own. Your care for a subject should include viewpoints different from your own. Every romantic relationship, for instance, deals with bias all the time. We have a tendency to only hear what we want to hear from our partner. And those of you with a significant other already know how that’s going to turn out!
During one of my classes I list my biases, how my views of life are slanted, how my thoughts are impacted by things like ethnicity, nationality, or religion. In part I say, “I am a Euro-American man who is a Christian.” I have a European heritage, I come from the nation of the United States, my gender is male, and my religious views are that of a Christ-follower. My biases, your biases, are not the problem. *Not* admitting our biases? That’s a problem.
Here are five questions to ask that could begin to eliminate the problem of biased communication
(1) Could I be wrong?
(2) Have I looked at all sides?
(3) Am I broadminded?
(4) Do my biases mislead?
(5) Are my sources correct?
Admitting we are biased is the first step toward building good communication and community. For Truth in Two, this is Dr. Mark Eckel, President of the Comenius Institute, personally seeking truth wherever it’s found.