It would be nice to end this post with a recommendation of how to avoid these problems. Unfortunately, I don’t really have one, other than “if you are withholding information because of how you expect the other party to react, be aware that this might just make everything worse”.
Maybe this is me being naive, but this seems like a topic where awareness of the destructive tendency can help defeat the destructive tendency. How about this, as a general policy: “I worry that this info will get misinterpreted, but here’s the full information along with a brief clarification of how I feel it should and shouldn’t be interpreted”?
To hostile listeners, you’ve given slightly less ammo than in the likely scenario where they caught you concealing the info. To less-hostile listeners, you’ve (a) built credibility by demonstrating that you’ll share info even when it doesn’t strengthen your cause, and (b) by explicitly calling out the potential misinterpretation you’re anticipating, you may make listeners more resilient against falling for that misinterpretation (inoculation / prebunking).
- By erring on the side of transparency while publicly acknowledging certain groups’ likelihood of coming to a distorted conclusion, I bet the CDC would have avoided a disastrous erosion of public trust and reinforcement of the “don’t trust the experts” vibe. - By bringing up Bob’s evasive communication during the client prep and the anxiety it created for her, Alice would have deepened trust between them (granted, at the risk of straining the relationship if he did turn out to be irredeemably thin-skinned). - …OK actually the cult/sect situation seems more complex, it seems to have more of the multipolar-trap (?) quality of “maybe no single individual feels safe/free to make the call that most people know would collectively be best for the group”.
It still seems to me that awareness of this trap/fallacy and its typical consequences can help a person or group make a much less fatal decision here.
Maybe this is me being naive, but this seems like a topic where awareness of the destructive tendency can help defeat the destructive tendency. How about this, as a general policy: “I worry that this info will get misinterpreted, but here’s the full information along with a brief clarification of how I feel it should and shouldn’t be interpreted”?
To hostile listeners, you’ve given slightly less ammo than in the likely scenario where they caught you concealing the info. To less-hostile listeners, you’ve (a) built credibility by demonstrating that you’ll share info even when it doesn’t strengthen your cause, and (b) by explicitly calling out the potential misinterpretation you’re anticipating, you may make listeners more resilient against falling for that misinterpretation (inoculation / prebunking).
- By erring on the side of transparency while publicly acknowledging certain groups’ likelihood of coming to a distorted conclusion, I bet the CDC would have avoided a disastrous erosion of public trust and reinforcement of the “don’t trust the experts” vibe.
- By bringing up Bob’s evasive communication during the client prep and the anxiety it created for her, Alice would have deepened trust between them (granted, at the risk of straining the relationship if he did turn out to be irredeemably thin-skinned).
- …OK actually the cult/sect situation seems more complex, it seems to have more of the multipolar-trap (?) quality of “maybe no single individual feels safe/free to make the call that most people know would collectively be best for the group”.
It still seems to me that awareness of this trap/fallacy and its typical consequences can help a person or group make a much less fatal decision here.