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The Basic Problem: "Mine is Better" Vincent Ryan Ruggiero

It's natural enough to like our own possessions better than other people's possessions. 1 Our possessions are extensions of ourselves. When first graders turn to their classmates and say, "My dad is bigger than yours" or "My shoes are newer" or "My crayons color better," they are not just speaking about their fathers or their shoes or crayons. They are saying something about themselves: "Hey, look at me. I'm something special."

Several years later those children will be saying, "My car is faster than yours," "My football team will go all the way this year," "My marks are higher than Olivia's." (That's one of the great blessings of students-though they may have to stoop to compare, they can always find someone with lower grades than theirs.

Even later, when they've learned that iLsounds boastful to say their possessions are better, they'll continue to think they are: "My house is more expensive, my club more exclusive, my spouse more attractive, my children better behaved, my accomplishments more numerous."

All of this, as we have noted, is natural, although not especially noble or vi1iuous or, in many cases, even factual. Just natural. The tendency is probably as old as humanity. History records countless examples of it. Most wars, for example, can be traced to some form of "mine is better" thinking. Satirists have pointed their pens at it. Ambrose Bierce, for instance, in his Devil's Dictionary, includes the

1 One exception to the rule occurs when we are envying others. But that is a special situation that doesn't contradict the point here.

word infidel. Technically, the word means "one who is an unbeliever in some religion." But Bierce's definition points up the underlying attitude in those who use the word. He defines infidel this way: "In New Yorlc, one who does not believe in the Christian religion; in Constantinople, one who does."

For many people, most of the time, the "mine is better" tendency is balanced by the awareness that other people feel the same way about their things, that it's an unavoidable paii of being a person to do so. In other words, many J?libple J,l;lalize that we all see ourselves in a special way, diff1;1rent fr6m ,, .. everything that is not ourselves, and that whatever ,VIie assdciate with ourselves becomes paii ofus in our n1inds. People whb have this understanding and are reasonably secure and self- · confident can control the tendency. The problem is that some people do not understand that each person has a special viewpoint. For them, "mine is .better" is not an attitude that everyone has about his or her things. Rather, it is a special, higher truth about their particular situation. Psychologists classify such people as either egocentric or ethnocentric.

Egocentric People Egocentric means centered or focused on one's own self and interested only in one's own interests, needs, and views. Egocentric people tend to practice "egospeak." The term was coined by Edmond Addeo and Robe1i Burger in their book of the same name. Egospeak, they explain, is "the aii of boosting our own egos by speaking only about what we want to talk about, and not giving a hoot in hell about what the other person· wants to talk about." More impoliant for our discussion is what precedes the outward expression of self-centeredness and energizes it: egocentric people's habit of mind. Following

Addeo and Burger, we might characterize that habit as egoTHINK.

Because the perspective of egothink is very limited, egocentric people have difficulty seeing issues from a variety of viewpoints. The world exists for them and is defined by their beliefs and values: What disturbs them should disturb everyone; what is of no consequence to them is unimportant. This attitude makes it difficult for egocentric people to observe, listen, and understand. Why should a person bother paying attention to others, including teachers and textbook authors, if

. they have nothing valuable to offer? What incentive is there to learn when one already knows everything worth knowing? For that matter, why bother with the laborious task of investigating controversial issues, poring over expert testimony, and evaluating evidence when one's own opinion is the final, infallible arbiter? It is difficult, indeed, for an egocentric to become proficient in critical thinking.

Ethnocentric People Ethnocentric means centered or focused on one's group. Unlike egocentric people, ethnocentrics are not absorbed in themselves but rather in their race, religion, ethnic group, or culture, which they believe is superior to all others. This belief they consider above the normal process of examination and questioning. Faced with a challenge to it or even a situation in which they are called on to explain it, they will resist. In their mirids there is no point in examining or questioning it. The niatter is settled.

Ethnocentric people, of course, are not born but made. Their early training in the home creates the habits of mind that characterize them. As children, they tend to expect and need strong leadership and strict discipline from their parents and

· teachers. Also, they are rigid and inflexible in their views, unable to face problems for which the outcomes or answers are not clear. They have no patience with complex situations and meet their daily affairs with oversimplifications.

As adults, ethnocentric individuals tend toward inflexible categorizing. They recognize no middle ground to issues. Things are either all one way or all the other. If such people are not completely for something, they are completely against it. The political party or candidate of their choice, for example, is the savior of the country; the opposition can only lead the country to destruction.

For ethnocentrics, the measure of any person or idea, of course, is the person's or idea's similarity to their race, their religion, their culture, their value system. Whatever blends with their outlook is worthy. Whatever differs from it is suspect, threatening, dangerous. This is a sad and undesirable attitude to take. But ethnocentric people find it quite satisfying. Psychologist Gordan Allport offers this explanation:

By taldng a negative view of great groups of mankind, we somehow make life simpler. For example, ifl reject all foreigners as a category, I don't have to bother with them­ except to keep them out of my country. If I can ticket, then, all Negroes as comprising an inferior and objectionable race, I conveniently dispose of a tenth of my fellow citizens. If I can put the Catholics into another category and reject them, my life is still further simplified. I then pare again and slice off the Jews ... and so it goes. Ethnocentric people's prejudice has an additional function.

It fills their need for an out-group to blame for real and imagined problems in society. Take any problem-crime in the streets, the drug trade, corruption in government, the assassination of a leader, a strike in a major industry,

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pornography, a rise in food prices-and there is a ready-made villain to blame it on: The "kikes" are responsible-or the "wops," "niggers," "spies," or "polacks." Ethnocentrics achieve instant diagnosis-it's as easy as matching column A to column B. And they get a large target at which they can point their anger and fear and inadequacy and frustration.

Controlling "Mine is Better" Thinking It's clear what the extreme "mine is better" attitude of egocentric and ethnocentric people does to their judgment. It twists and warps it, often beyond correction. The effect of the "mine is better" tendencies of the rest of us is less dramatic, but no less real.

Our preference for our own thinking can prevent us from identifying flaws in our own ideas, as well as from seeing and building upon other people's insights. Similarly, our pride in our own religion can lead us to dismiss too quickly the beliefs and practices of other religions and ignore mistakes in our religious history. Our preference for our own political party can make us support inferior candidates and programs. Our allegiances to our own opinions can shut us off from other perspectives, blind us to unfamiliar truths, and enslave us to yesterday's conclusions.

Furthermore, our readiness to accept uncritically those who appeal to our preconceived notions leaves us vulnerable to those who would manipulate us for their own purposes. Historians tell us that is precisely why Hitler succeeded in winning control of Germany and very nearly conquering the world.

"Mine is better" thinking is the most basic problem 'for critical thinkers because, left unchecked, it can distort perception and cormpt judgment. The more mired we are in

subjectivity, the less effective will be our critical thinking. Though perfect objectivity m:;i,y be unattainable, by controlling our "mine is better" tendencies, we c,an achieve a significant

· degree of objectivity. One way to gain that control is to keep in mind that, like other people, we too are prone to "mine is better" thinking and that its influence will be strongest when the subject is one we really care about. As G.K. Chesteron observed,

We are all exact and scientific on the subjects we do not care about. We all immediately detect exaggeration nan exposition of Mormonism or a patriotic speech from Paraguay. We all require sobriety on the subject of the sea serpent. But the moment we begin to believe in a thing ourselves, that moment we begin easily to overstate it; and the moment our souls become serious, our words become a little wild. The second way to control "mine is better thinking is to be alert for signals of its presence. Those signals can be found both in our feelings and in our thoughts:

Infeelings: Very pleasant, favorable sensations, the desire to embrace a statement or argument immediately, without appraising it further. Or very unpleasant, negative sensations, the desire to attack and denounce a statement or argument without delay.

In thoughts: Ideas such as "I'm glad that experts are taking such a position-I've thought it all along" and "No use wasting time analyzing this evidence-it must be conclusive." Or ideas such as "This view is outrageous because it challenges what I have always thought-I refuse to consider it." Whenever you find yourself reacting this way, you can be

reasonably sure you are being victimized by "mine is better" thinking. The appropriate response is to resist the reaction and force yourself to consider the matter fair-mindedly.

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