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Highlands Today

Wearing Blindfolds

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Randy Ludacer

Published: August 11, 2008

I was thinking about the effect of bias in thinking and decision making. It came up in the context of some people indicating they could not vote for Obama for president because he was black, no matter what; a predictable and unfortunate attitude with some in the American South.

But it started me thinking about bias in general, where and how much weight it is given in all kinds of thinking, in the process of decision making. Firstly, I was concerned with whether it becomes a factor in evaluation, whether it is included, inappropriately, in a list of concerns which lead to a decision. That would be bad enough but what if it serves as a filter, to block the receipt of otherwise relevant information never let into the process of weighing facts and making choices on a rational basis?

I was watching a TV show, book reviewing, and I decided I didn't like the necktie worn by the lecturer. It was a skimpy, pale, stripy bow tie, an utterly silly looking thing and as I looked at it, the words of the lecturer seemed to fade. Was this merely an absurd fashion bias on my part or perhaps my questioning why anyone would wear such a tie and whether the choice of wearing such a tie reflected on the quality of the judgment-making ability of the wearer, and shouldn't I take that into consideration in weighing, or even accepting the quality of his opinion, downgrade his believability or even reject everything he has to say out of hand because of his flawed judgment in necktie selection?

I knew rather quickly that I had seized on something important, whether such subliminal considerations, trivial or not, have an important impact on decision making, even on issues of great importance. I found the realization rather frightening and totally valid. If I could diminish the importance of what was being said by such a trivial consideration, couldn't I reject the communication completely for the same reason?

Why do some politicians show up, uniformly wearing red neckties on some occasions, only to switch to light blue on others? Certainly there was a signal, a communication intended. But to what end, for what purpose? Could biases be triggered intentionally by such subtle signals? And if so, what happens to receptivity of information or the potential for intelligent reception and evaluation of data.

I think in retrospect we are a long way from where we should be and perhaps sightlessness is not really blindness. Justice has a blindfold as well as scales.

Randy Ludacer
Lake Placid

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