Understanding One Another
Wrong Assumptions About Others
EDITORIAL INTRODUCTION
The troubling gap is not between what people value and how they behave, but between what they value and what they imagine others value. In Rutger Bregman’s Humankind: A Hopeful History, Doug presents the Common Cause Foundation’s Perceptions Matter study alongside economist Milton Friedman’s claim that faulty assumptions are harmless if predictions succeed. The nocebo effect suggests otherwise: expectations can help create their own confirmation.
A Note on the Original Text
Doug’s writings are presented as originally written. Spelling, punctuation, and grammatical irregularities have been retained to preserve his words and the integrity of the original record.
ORIGINAL WRITING
The content in this post is based on the book Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman.
Time and time again we assume that others care only about themselves. That, unless there is an award in the offing, people much prefer to lounge around. A British study recently found that a vast majority of the population (74%) identify more closely with values such as helpfulness, honesty, and justice than with wealth, status, and power. But just about as large a share (78%) think others are more self-interested than they really are.
Some economists think this skewed take on human nature isn’t a problem. Nobel Prize-winning-economist Milton Friedman, for instance, argued that incorrect assumptions about people don’t matter so long as your predictions prove right. But Friedman forget to factor in the nocebo effect: simply believing in something can make it come true.