We need to be more tolerant of hypocrisy
Why hypocrisy is so intuitive and why attacking it can backfire. An interview + book giveaway with Michael Hallsworth
In our society, hypocrisy may as well be one of the seven deadly sins. From corporate inconsistencies, celebrity scandals to political conflicts, people tend to be quick to notice hypocrisy, call it out and cancel others despite biased accusations. Perhaps the relentless attention to hypocrisy is doing more harm than good, and fools us into disconnecting with others who show even slight inconsistencies. Michael Hallsworth, a behavioral scientist and Distinguished Lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania explains how these traps work in his new book, The Hypocrisy Trap.
One of the most dangerous forms of hypocrisy explored in the book is “double standards hypocrisy,” where people judge their own group leniently while condemning out-group members for the very same behavior. Decades of research has found that when people are placed into arbitrary groups, we almost instantly favor our own group and derogate the other. Another form of hypocrisy that threatens fair democratic processes is…
