Bias blind spot

Introduction

Do you have prejudices? How objective are you?

People, and I am in no way exempting myself from this, tend to think of themselves as objective and unbiased.

A sample of 600 people in the USA were asked about this and 85% of them were convinced that they were less biased than the average American. Only one participant believed they were more biased than the average (see https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bias_blind_spot).

It's a bit reminiscent of German drivers, 85% of whom consider themselves to be above-average drivers. I read that somewhere once. Of course, that's just as silly.

There is even a scientific term for this overestimation of one's own objectivity:

In English:

Bias blind spot

"Bias" can be translated as "bias" and "blind spot" as "blind spot", based on the blind spot in our eye.

Literally translated, this means "bias blindness". The official German term is "distortion blindness", but that somehow doesn't make it as clear.

Let's look at a Bible text (Matthew 7:1-5; New Testament):

1 Judge not, lest ye be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will also be judged, and the measure you use to measure others will also be applied to you. 3 Why do you see the mote in your brother's eye, but do not notice the beam in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, 'Hold still, I will take the mote out of your eye' - and yet the beam is in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite! First pull the beam out of your eye! Then you will see clearly and can pull the mote out of your brother's eye.

Straighten

But why is it so bad to judge or even condemn others? I am objective and have hardly any prejudices. And that's why I'm well placed to judge what's wrong with others, isn't it?

You quickly realise that this overconfidence can lead to arrogant thinking.

We already find this in the Bible, where a Pharisee says in prayer (Luke 18:11): I thank you, God, that I am not like those other people, all those robbers, cheats, adulterers or that tax collector there.

This Pharisee certainly thought he was above average in everything.

I think most people are rather repelled by such behaviour and thinking.

But again: Why is "judge" wrong?

But not objectively

The first aspect is certainly that we are not objective after all. That's why your and my judgements of others are often unfair.

Proverbs 11:2; NEÜ says it so beautifully:

When arrogance comes, so does shame, but wisdom is linked to humility.

Instead of "arrogance", you can also translate "arrogance", "pride" or "haughtiness".

If you consider yourself to be particularly objective in the sense of "I have a particularly clear view", then this is arrogant and will not end well.

The term "humility" comes up here and I believe that this term is very important for Christians.

I need grace and forgiveness from God, my knowledge is piecemeal, I simply don't know many things and the other person could also be right. I don't see some backgrounds and perhaps I'm not empathetic enough to understand why the other person is acting the way they are. I often don't have a clear enough view and with this view I want to continue to go through life learning in order to acquire real wisdom.

How can you judge people with this point of view? And yet I do it often enough.

On your own body

We often realise how wrong such judging can be when we ourselves are affected. If you feel unfairly treated, and everyone has probably experienced this at some point, then it can really get you down.

Is this perhaps already the realisation of the verse from earlier (Matthew 7:2; NT)?

2 For in the same way you judge others, you will also be judged one day, and the standard by which you measure others will also be applied to you.

The statement refers to the future, but often enough it is already happening here. It sounds like a fair reckoning: "with the same measure".

As a contrast to this, a statement from the Lord's Prayer comes to mind (Matthew 6:12; LUT):

And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

Nothing is added up. If you ask God, all guilt is forgiven, just as we forgive those who are guilty against us.

No equal measure, no judgement of the guilt of others: God forgives us and we forgive each other. Everything.

Of course, this is not easy and often takes time and depending on the type of guilt, e.g. abuse, it may also be that no reconciliation or contact is possible. Even if the guilt is of a criminal nature, it is not necessarily possible to avoid the public prosecutor's office, even if the person concerned has perhaps forgiven.

Forgiveness doesn't mean sweeping everything under the carpet, I just wanted to mention that briefly.

Nevertheless, this applies to us Christians:

And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

In addition

And you can go even further.

In a parallel passage from the "judge" text there is something more (Luke 6, 36-38; NEÜ):

36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. 37 Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you: You will be showered with a full, pressed down, shaken and overflowing measure of good. God will use the same measure for you that you use for others."

With a compassionate attitude, one is already somewhat immunised against judging.

And this is where the measure comes up again, but in a positive sense. This is not about counting one's debts against another, but rather an invitation to give freely. And this is also something, I believe, that not only concerns the future, but that we will also receive back here on earth. "You will be showered with good things."

But it doesn't work if you offset it against each other. I suppose offsetting each other is always a bad idea.

The splitter has to come out?

Let's come back to the splinter: it has to come out, it's unpleasant. I can see that.

What is a splitter?

A story about this: A friend of ours was visited by an acquaintance who was staying there for a few days. So far, so good, they'd done it that way before and it was fine.

The friend had to work one day and the acquaintance was left alone in the flat that day. The friend looked at her friend's desk and realised that it wasn't perfectly organised. She therefore rearranged the contents of the drawers in the desk so that our friend could then find her way around and work better at her desk.

She saw a splinter, so to speak, which she pulled.

The enthusiasm about the result was very limited, because the new order did not suit our friend.

I would choose the word "abusive" for such behaviour.

Obviously there was a beam in the way.

But can you say it like that? (Matthew 7:3; NT)

3 Why do you see the mote in your brother's (or sister's) eye, but do not notice the beam in your own eye?

Is it possible to see bars in others when you yourself have a huge board in front of your head?

"So the other person sees it completely wrong. It's obvious". Maybe I'm so caught up in my bubble, so biased, that I wrongly assume others have a beam in their eye.

According to Jesus Christ, people seem to overlook the beam in their own eye. But how can you change that?

This brings us back to the humility described earlier: I need grace and forgiveness from God, my knowledge is piecemeal, I simply don't know many things and the other person could also be right.

With this posture I might notice the beam (old joke: with hands by the ears). The plank is probably on edge. (Matthew 7:3; NT)

4 How can you say to your brother, 'Hold still, I will pull the mote out of your eye' - and yet the beam is in your eye? 5 You hypocrite! First pull the beam out of your eye! Then you will see clearly and be able to pull the mote out of your brother's eye.

"Hold still! I'll show you how it's done. You'll never get rid of the splinter without me!"

I think that in most cases you can tell when you have a splinter in your eye. Because it stings. I once had a metal splinter in my eye that had to be removed by an ophthalmologist. That was pretty scary.

Let us treat each other with mercy, perhaps even share the splinters we notice ourselves.

Well, and we all don't want to be hypocrites. Let us pray for each other that we can recognise the beams in our eyes and cast them aside.

The last image I would like to mention is the so-called mirror test, which is used to determine whether animals recognise themselves in the mirror. To do this, you place a mark, e.g. a coloured spot, on the animal without it noticing. And if the animal sees this mark in the mirror and then wants to remove it from itself, then it has passed the test.

This can be an image for us. Are we ready to see ourselves as we are, with all our blemishes and also with the countless beams that keep flying into our eyes?

Summary

Let me summarise:

Most people seem to think that they are more objective and unbiased than average, which is probably a fallacy
The Bible warns against judging

We are not as objective as we imagine ourselves to be. When we understand that we need forgiveness and that our knowledge is only piecemeal, we realise that judging is inappropriate.
We often only realise how bad judging can be when we experience it ourselves. Instead of judging, we need to forgive each other.
And when we generously go beyond this, we are showered with an overflowing amount of good.

We often think we see the "mote" in the other person's eye, while we overlook our own "beam", which can even lead to abusive behaviour.
We may even see false beams in others.
Only when we realise that we need grace and forgiveness from God and that our knowledge is piecemeal do we have a chance of noticing our own beam and getting rid of it. Are we ready for this?