The Power of Ideas: Mental Shortcuts, Biases and Friendships
By Uma Hiremath
INE TED Columnist
BOSTON–Mental shortcuts. We use them all the time as heuristic devices to navigate a complex multilayered world. It works. It helps us make constant decisions, big and small.
We adopt those shortcuts to steer through the day and through life itself. But what if our reliance on shortcuts reflexively deepen biases at the cost of eroding our innate humanity?
In this 14-minute exchange between two moms, one a staunch Republican and the other an equally staunch Democrat, we get to listen in on an honest and rather engaging conversation.
Caitlin Quattromani and Lauran Arledge choose to make a commitment to each other in “How Our Friendship Survives our Opposing Politics.”
Click here, or on the image below, to watch “How Our Friendship Survives our Opposing Politics.”
The deceptively simple deconstruction of their mutual efforts to forgo political shortcuts and consciously pursue “the possibility that lives in dialogue” makes for easy listening, but asks a lot from us.
