{"id":2724,"date":"2021-03-22T17:05:53","date_gmt":"2021-03-23T00:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/?p=2724"},"modified":"2021-03-22T17:05:53","modified_gmt":"2021-03-23T00:05:53","slug":"why-anemones-will-always-win-my-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/2021\/03\/why-anemones-will-always-win-my-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Anemones Will Always Win My Heart"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>This simple form attracts me because I’m biased.
\nIn a good way.<\/p>\n

Thoughts On Bias<\/strong><\/p>\n

The other day, someone asked me about a coppery red, spotty evergreen shrub, was there something wrong with it? I made a face and said \u201cNo, it\u2019s a Photinia that doesn\u2019t like the maritime Northwest, they color up and get those spots every winter up here. I HATE those things!\u201d She said the plant looked weird, that color jut looked wrong in the spring when everything else is fresh looking. I agreed; I\u2019ve always thought that if Photinia x fraserii turned those bronzy colors in autumn, I\u2019d probably love it. But I was also interested to note that we were both revealing our biases about what looked \u201cnormal\u201d and what looked \u201cweird.\u201d Bias is often hidden and can work both for and against: For years, I disliked variegated plants because they looked diseased to my eyes (and indeed, some of them are). On the other hand, I instantly adore any flower with that classic anemone form, from hellebores and pasque flowers to clematis and aconites.<\/p>\n

Recently we\u2019ve all had many opportunities to notice how biased our culture can be about people as well as plants, whether it\u2019s expressed as racism or instant unconscious acceptance of people who look like us. Many researchers have pointed out that it\u2019s far easier to recognize other people\u2019s biases than our own. Lately I\u2019ve been studying bias as a topic for the Inclusion Study Group of the Senior Community Center. Our next conversation will be about bias, and here\u2019s what I\u2019ve learned: Everyone is biased.<\/p>\n

Yup. Here\u2019s How It Works<\/strong><\/p>\n

Implicit Biases are biases taught directly and\/or indirectly through our lifetimes through parents, teachers, neighbors, friends, advertising, media, etc. The term \u201cimplicit bias\u201d explains how our attitudes towards people or stereotypes we associate with them were formed without our conscious knowledge. Bias \u2018Blind Spots\u2019 are places where we can see bias operating in others but can\u2019t see it in ourselves and our own worldview. To sum it up, \u201cEveryone thinks they are less biased than their peers.\u201d This article on blind spots made me chuckle, then made me think again.
\nhttps:\/\/www.cmu.edu\/news\/stories\/archives\/2015\/june\/bias-blind-spot.html<\/strong><\/p>\n

Want to explore your bias? Check out these interactive tests:
\nhttps:\/\/implicit.harvard.edu\/implicit\/selectatest.html<\/strong><\/p>\n

Who Knew?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first test I took reveals how we feel about old people and younger people. The results suggested that I am strongly biased towards young people. I didn\u2019t think so, but now that it\u2019s been called out, I\u2019m noticing that I do feel especially friendly when I see young people out and about. I asked my daughter what she thought and she said that, in her experience, I have always had special warmth for young people, more than most of her friends\u2019 moms. Huh. Who knew indeed?<\/p>\n

The second test indicated that I have a slight preference for dark skinned people over light skinned people, and the third, that I have a moderate preference for gay people over straight people. Again, I\u2019m not so sure about that, but it\u2019s certainly possible. Though I\u2019ve been friends with gay and queer and BIPOC people since my highschool days, I\u2019ve definitely done a lot more stretching since my daughter came out as transgender. The more I learn about how difficult life can be for anyone who is not straight and white, the more I am able to empathize and the more I want to help.<\/p>\n

Confirmation Bias<\/strong><\/p>\n

Theologian Brian McLaren believes that confirmation bias is the most powerful, and works like this: \u201cWe all have filters, [such as] What do I already believe? Does this new idea or piece of information confirm what I already think? Does it fit in the frame I\u2019ve already constructed? If so, I can accept it. If not, in all likelihood, I\u2019m simply going to reject it as unreasonable and unbelievable, even though doing so is, well, unreasonable. I do this, not to be ignorant, but to be efficient. My brain (without my conscious awareness, and certainly without my permission) makes incredibly quick decisions as it evaluates incoming information or ideas. Ideas that fit in are easy and convenient to accept, and they give me pleasure because they confirm what I already think.<\/p>\n

But ideas that don\u2019t fit easily will require me to think, and think twice, and maybe even rethink some of my long-held assumptions. That kind of thinking is hard work. It requires a lot of time and energy. My brain has a lot going on, so it interprets hard work like this as pain…. Wanting to save me from that extra reframing work, my brain presses a \u201creject\u201d or \u201cdelete\u201d button when a new idea presents itself. \u201cI\u2019ll stick with my current frame, thank you very much,\u201d it says. And it gives me a little jolt of pleasure to reward me for my efficiency.\u201d<\/p>\n

We Are Wired Like This<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis says confirmation bias works like this: \u201cWe are all wired by what we\u2019ve experienced to be in search of a story with an ending . . . that feels like it has a completion. And the stories that we gravitate to are the ones that make sense to us, stories that fit, stories that feel like they have continuity, connection to the past, where we\u2019ve been. . . . Those stories that we will follow are the ones that feel true, feel like they have continuity to our past and that resonate with the trajectory of our lives. So, we\u2019re looking for the story that doesn\u2019t necessarily change our minds; we\u2019re actually looking for the story that confirms what\u2019s in our minds.\u201d<\/p>\n

As far as interactions with people, I\u2019m definitely open to learning more about my own hidden assumptions and leanings. The deeper I dig, the less I feel fearful of what I might find out. After all, if we don\u2019t look, we\u2019ll never know (though I suppose we can always ask our friends\u2026). As far as my interactions with plants, I\u2019m pretty happy with my bias towards the simple, beautiful form of an anemone, or a buttercup, or a single rose. For one thing, bees and other pollinators love that form as well. But I don\u2019t really need a \u201cgood\u201d or logical reason, I love them and that\u2019s reason enough. In fact, I\u2019m off to the nursery now!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This simple form attracts me because I’m biased. In a good way. Thoughts On Bias The other day, someone asked me about a coppery red, spotty evergreen shrub, was there something wrong with it? I made a face and said … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1153,1147,2053,130,182],"tags":[2195,2194],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1lB7f-HW","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2724"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2724"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2724\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2728,"href":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2724\/revisions\/2728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}