Chapter 9 - Opening Up

Summary

Chapter 9 discusses the implications of the fair process effect for how to deal with various issues of discontent in society and how we can open up ourselves to start overcoming these issues, at least to a certain extent. Based on what is learned in this book, the chapter notes that it could help when we learn to think differently and try to stay away from abstractions that may, in effect, make us more discontent about what is happening in society than is sometimes warranted or desirable. We also may need to train ourselves to accept that sometimes unfair things happen to us. This may lead us to accept the unpleasant feelings that come with these experiences. This also increases the chances of us being able to tolerate or even embrace dissenting opinions, which may turn out to provide the main impetus to real change. Increasing the level of genuine empathy for other people’s feelings is also among the core aspects that we may attempt to learn. Sometimes trying different behaviors than we are used to, and then observing the effects of these different behaviors, is among the more important lessons that we humans can learn and adapt ourselves to accordingly.